Hunters of Death
by DesertChocolate
Summary: AU For a universe with Jaegers, two Sheps, Drifting, and the hope of seeing Super-Jaegers take on Reapers is what keeps the story moving. Giant Robot fights abound my friends. (Cover Image drawn by the amazing unidentifiedspoon on tumblr.)
1. Chapter 1

In a room in the Presidium of the Citadel, three men look at datapads with critical eyes. One of them, an balding older man dressed in formal clothing, looks up from his datapad.

"Well, what about Shepard? He's a spacer. Lived aboard starships most of his life."

The man across from him, a black man who carries himself like a soldier, nods. "Military service runs in the family. Both his parents were in the navy."

The two of them look up at the third person in the room, a grizzled man with a large scar going down his right cheek. The man has a grim smile on his face as he plops his datapad on the table. "You're forgetting his sister."

The balding man blinks and looks back at his datapad. "Oh yes. His sister. Colorful history on this one." He frowns. "How is it that twins can have such completely different backgrounds?"

"Look closer Udina. Its right there you see." The black man asks calmly.

Udina frowns. "Ah yes. Remind which Kaiju it was Anderson?"

"Remf." The two soldiers in the room say with a shared smirk. Udina notices it and frowns. "Is there something I'm missing Mr. Hackett?"

Steven Hackett smirks a bit wider. "Just a joke between two old men Udina. Still, the strange history between the twin Shepard's in well documented now. A Kaiju attack on the hospital they were born in separated the two. While John was taken by his parents as they escaped onto a starship, Jane was found in the rubble, and was assumed to be an orphan in the attack. Still, both seemed destined for the military. High scores in all fields of the military. Jane is a Sentinel class, and seems to be the more tactical of the two. John carries the Vanguard classification, and has shown incredible aptitude in close quarters combat. All in all, extremely proficient warriors on the ground."

"And then there's their Jaeger piloting skills." Anderson adds as Udina stares at his datapad in shock.

"My word." The man says in stunned silence.

"My thoughts exactly." Anderson says with a smile. "They only found out about their relationship in the academy, thanks to the standard DNA testing required in their physicals. Despite having almost no relationship outside of blood, they are some of the most Drift compatible pilots we've ever seen. Not to mention the fact that for some reason, they can pilot effectively with almost anyone else. They work best together of course, but they don't seem to slow down when you replace their partners with someone else."

"It served them well on Elysium." Hackett adds casually. "With an outdated Jaeger, they managed to hold off the Batarians, switching between each other so there was always a Shepard either on the ground leading troops or in the Jaeger destroying ships. From what I'm told, it was the sister that came up with the idea, but both did as well leading troops as they did piloting. Command material, the best the N8 program has ever produced."

Udina puts his datapad down with a sigh. "But in the end, we can only have one Spectre candidate. So which will it be?"

The entire room sat silent.

* * *

John Shepard stands in a empty room looking at the planet below with a look of melancholy on his face. A tall man with a shaved head and dark eyes, he seems to be in deep thought. In actuality, he's thinking about his guns. Specifically, the ones on his back.

'Seriously, why am I required to carry four weapons when I can only use two of them? I'm a Vanguard, I never received any training with sniper rifles or assault rifles! At best I can bash someone in the head with them.' He thinks to himself. 'Heck, I don't even like sniper rifles or assault rifles. If I need to hit something I can't reach with my shotgun, I'll either use my pistols or my powers to take them down. Stupid regs.'

He starts to grumble under his breath, getting more agitated as time goes by. He's so lost in his thoughts that he doesn't notice another person is in the room with him until he's tapped on the shoulder. He spins around, startled, only to relax.

"Oh. Hey Jane. You need me for something?"

His fraternal twin sister gives him a small smirk. Shorter than John, she still manages to stand out, with bright red hair and piercing red eyes. She gives him a consoling pat on the back.

"Thinking about the gun thing again?"

"I just don't get it." He said gloomily. "I can't use two of them, why would I have to carry them anyways?"

Jane grins as she slaps his arm playfully. "Quit complaining. At least you can use your shotgun. I'm stuck with three useless weapons." She pulls him away from the window. "Come on. We're heading into the mass relay. Maybe it'll take your mind off things."

John smiles a bit as they enter the elevator. "Heck, maybe we'll see your stalker while we're at it."

Jane stumbles a bit. "Can we not joke about that!? Seriously, the guy is around every corner I go around. The only reason it isn't creepier is that he follows you too."

He smiles. "And the fact that he usually ends up following you right after?"

"I have a gun." She say flatly.

He laughs as they step off the elevator, coming into the CIC of the SSV Normandy. The pair head to the bridge, stepping around crew members and trading quick salutes as they go. They get to the bridge in time to watch as they enter the relay. In a burst of light, the ship is sent halfway across the galaxy. With one shift of gravity, the entire ship has broken the laws of physics.

Jane turns when she realizes someone is talking.

"...just under 1500 K." Joker, a young man with a scruffy beard and Alliance Navy cap says casually.

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased."

Jane groans internally when she realizes that she recognizes the second voice. Out of the corner of her eye she sees the form of Nihlus, the turian spectre that John jokingly calls her stalker. Like all his race, he has the appearance of predatory bird, his face covered in white face paint that contrasts against his brown skin. Jane can almost feel John's amusement as Nihlus turns to leave. She blinks in surprise when her thoughts are voiced by someone else.

"I hate that guy." Joker says.

Kaiden Alenko, the final person in the room, gives Joker a disbelieving look. "Nihlus compliments you. So you hate him?"

John speaks up before Joker can respond. "Well he seems to have a gift for making people dislike him. Right Jane?"

"Can we leave it alone? Please? Seriously, I will shoot you. You've got medi-gel, it won't affect you for long."

At this, Joker seems to perk up. "Whats the matter Shep, you and your boyfriend lose the magic between you?"

Jane is contemplating the merits of shooting her brother and pilot when Commander Anderson calls on the intercom.

"Joker. Status report."

"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain," replied Joker. "Stealth system engaged. Everything looks solid."

"Good," said Captain Anderson. "Find the nearest comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass _before_ we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye, aye, captain. Better brace yourself, sir," Joker warned. "I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, Lieutenant," Captain Anderson replied, amusement in his voice. Kaiden glanced at Joker, who was shaking in his head in an nervous way. "Tell John and Jane to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

The twins sigh and turn away as Kaiden reprimands Joker. On the way they run into Presley, a balding man dressed in Alliance blue. John stops to talk to him as Jane continues on to join Jenkins and Dr. Chakwas. After a bit, they meet back up in front of the comm, both deep in thought as they prepare to enter. They take a moment to look at each other.

"I think Presley might be racist." John says.

"I think we should keep Jenkins out of away missions for a bit." Jane says.

The pair sigh in unison, and John opens the door to the comm room. As they enter, Nihlus is looking at an image of the planet they're heading for, Eden Prime. He turns to look at them.

"Ah, just the pair I was looking for."

Jane holds back another groan. John decides to take point for her.

"Can I ask why? Is there something wrong?"

"I was curious about this world we're going to." He says far too casually.

"Well, Jenkins was raised there." Jane answers. "He says the place is a paradise. Not much in the way of a military force yet."

"Yes... a paradise. Serene. Tranquil. Safe." Nihlus looks between the two of them, as if he's studying them. John stiffens his back as he begins to realize that despite how he and Jane had been joking around, Nihlus was still an experienced soldier, and a commanding officer. "Eden Prime has become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it? Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them. But how safe is it, really?"

"Whats going on, Nihlus? What aren't you telling us?" John says as Jane took position next to him.

At that moment, Captain Anderson stepped in. He gave Nihlus a serious look. "I think you should tell them Nihlus."

The Spectre nods. "Very well. This isn't just a shakedown run. We're going into Eden Prime to pick up something of extreme importance."

The twins share a glance. "Well," John says carefully. "Most of the ship has guessed that. What's so important that you couldn't tell anyone the full details of this mission?"

"Because of what was found at a dig-site on the planet." Anderson answers stoically. "A Prothean beacon, to be specific."

Jane felt a shock go through her. "A beacon? Are you serious?"

Nihlus nods. "Deadly. Anytime a civilization find a cache of Prothean technology, its science is catapulted hundreds of years. Look at the progress of your own people when they found the facility on Mars." He looks at each of them carefully. "Of course, this time humans aren't the only ones who will benefit. The Council is very interested it what could be hidden in that beacon. And since Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to research the beacon thoroughly-"

"We're taking it to the Citadel." Jane finishes. "Makes sense. A lot of races are nervous about humanity. This would help smooth things over a bit."

"Also explains why you're here Nihlus." John adds. "The Council would want a Spectre on something so important. Glad to have the help." Jane grumbles under her breath at that, which makes John smirk a bit.

"Actually, that's not the only reason Nihlus came along." Anderson cuts in. "He actually came for you."

"What?" John asks, sharing a glance with Jane. "Which one?"

"Both." Nihlus says calmly. "I will be taking this opportunity to evaluate you both at the same time. To become Spectres."

Jane, a little bit more knowledgeable on political matters then her brother, feels herself take in a breath. "That's a big step for humanity. We've been trying to get more influence in Council matters for years."

"Yes. And that's one of the reasons why I put you both forward as candidates."

If there was any doubts that John and Jane were twins, they disappear at the sight of the equally confused looks on their faces. "You?" John says. "No offense, but even with all the time that's gone by, I thought it would be decades before any turian would forgive humans for the Relay 314 incident."

Nihlus cocks his head at John's use of the turian name for said incident, rather than the human name. "I understand why you would think so. In pure military terms, the whole affair was an absolute disaster for the turians. And of course, those are the only terms turian leadership thinks in. But I don't care about that. You both proved yourselves on Elysium. Fighting together with absolute precision while leading civilian troops against almost overwhelming odds."

Jane smirks. "Not really. No odds are overwhelming with a Jaeger on your side."

"Even an outdated one? One with no shields, mass effect drives, or weapons?" Nihlus says pointedly. "That's the kind of soldier we need in the Spectres. Someone who can take a good look at the odds and find a way to beat them. Its why I put you both forth as candidates." He crossed his arms behind his back. "Of course, this won't be our only mission together. The plan is for us to go on several missions, with me sending in reports on your progress together. If all goes well, one, or even both of you, will be the first member of your species to be a Spectre."

"Until then, we focus on the mission at hand. John, you're in charge of securing the beacon for transport to the Citadel. Jane will take point with Nihlus. You'll keep in radio contact at all times. We can't run the risk of raiders getting their hands on the beacon if it turns out to be a weapons archive. So Nihlus and Jane will go in to confirm the beacons location, and John's team will arrive to secure it." Anderson was going to continue, when Joker came on the intercom.

"Captain, we've got a problem."

They all look up, instincts from old battles surging to the forefront. "What's wrong Joker?

"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this."

"Bring it up on screen." The group direct their attention to the vid-screen.

For a moment, there is nothing but gunfire and static. After a moment, a woman appears. She is wearing black N7 armor, and carrying the standard assault rifle, her black helmet covering most of her features. John frowns and watches the woman move forward and push the filmmaker aside as she yells at him to get down. The screen continues to shake as a group of soldiers fire in one direction. Despite the chaos onscreen, the soldiers react with admirable fire discipline, obviously picking their targets with timed bursts rather than firing wildly. The woman takes leadership of the group, directing them where to pick their fire in loud yells as she fires away next to them. A sudden lull overcomes the battlefield, and the soldiers stare at something off-screen before the female officer snaps them back to attention. The camera spins around to focus on a huge black object in the distance. This seems to be enough for the soldiers, and all beat a ordered retreat as they fall back, watching each others backs.

"Everything cuts out after that. There's scattered reports of fighting, but some kind of jammer must be in effect. Whatever is happening, Eden Prime isn't giving up yet, that much we can tell."

Anderson nods. "Good. Reverse the video and hold at 38.5"

The video bounces back and stops on a image. The group seems to take in a collective breath at what is on screen. It look like a massive metal creature, rising above the landscape on Eden Prime like something from hell. John asks the first question on everyone's mind.

"Is that... a Kaiju?"

"Can't be." Nihlus says with a shake of his head. "No planet except Earth has ever shown any sign of Kaiju activity."

"Whatever it is, the mission has gotten a lot more complicated." Anderson said grimly. "Joker, Status report."

"Seventeen minute out, Captain. No other Alliance ships in the area."

"What about Citadel? Asari or Turian?" Jane asks.

"Out this far in the Terminus systems? No, no one else."

"Take us in then. Fast and quiet." Anderson commanded.

"We should stick to the original plan sir." John says as the others turn to him. "Jane can go with Nihlus to provide intel on the area, while my team provides fire support."

Captain Anderson turns to Nihlus. "Is that alright with you Nihlus?"

The turian shrugs. "I move faster on my own. But it would be nice to have some backup. And despite the circumstances, its a good way to evaluate you both. See how you handle a mission that takes this kind of turn."

"Good enough for me." Jane says calmly.

"Very well. Get Alenko and Jenkins and suit up. Be ready in ten."

The three of them walk out of the room, leaving Anderson to stare at the screen, contemplating the image of the behemoth before him.

* * *

Nihlus left the twins to get his own gear. Jane turned to her brother. "Hey, you saw the same thing as me right? An N7 operative."

He nodded. "Yep. Well trained too. Rare that you see them so far out in Terminus space."

"Yeah. You recognize her?"

"Nope. Could be someone who joined right after we got promoted into the N8 Jaeger program?"

"Could be." She said thoughtfully, biting her lip as she spoke. "Guess we'll find out." They nodded to each other, then walked away.

Time to get to work.

* * *

Codex: The Jaeger-Kaiju War

On April 10th, the year 2013, Earth's history was changed when the first Kaiju attacked. A monster 302 feet tall and weighing 2700 hundred tons, it came from a interdimensional breach and destroyed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This moment was called, K-Day. The Kaiju, now called Trespasser traveled through San Francisco, ignoring any conventional weapons used against it as it devastated the city. In the end, after rampaging through Sacramento and San Francisco, it was killed in Oakland with three nuclear bombs, along with any survivors in the blast zone. T Then it got worse. Only six months later, another monster appeared as the last one did, from a portal beneath the ocean. Then, when that beast was defeated, another came. More and more, with increasing size and strength, coming faster and faster. Even in defeat, the monsters caused damage. Kaiju Blue, the name given to the phenomenon that followed the spilling of Kaiju blood. Toxic and acidic, it destroyed the landscape, making it as costly to defeat the Kaiju as it was to fight them. For a time, it seemed humanity would drown beneath the beasts.

Until the people of Earth banded together to create the Jaeger program. Enormous machines built with neural implants to allow a pilot to move them as efficiently as their own bodies. Plasma guns were created to burn Kaiju flesh, limiting the risk of Kaiju blue significantly. Enormous blades were inserted into the machines to allow peak performance in hand to hand combat. Jaegers. The most incredible creations man ever dreamed of.

But it was to much for one human to control. The strain of moving such a massive and complex machine broke the mind of the first pilot to link with it causing seizures and eventually killing him. A scientist named Caitlin Lightcap came up with a solution. The Drift. She realized that by melding two minds together, two pilots could move a Jaeger with ease. But it required mind melding. Combining two minds took trust. It took a bond that was unbreakable. Siblings, spouses, friends, none of it mattered. What mattered was the absolute faith between the pilots. Caitlyn and Sergio D'onofrio proved to fit the criteria, and together piloted the worlds first Jaeger, the Brawler Yukon to the greatest victory over the Kaiju humanity had ever seen. With that, the Jaeger project was in full effect. Humanity started winning.

With the Jaegers, humanity stood against the titans that threatened them. But even this was not enough. Kaiju started coming faster, each equipped with strange biological weapons to counter the Jaegers. In the end, only four of the more than thirty strong force of Jaegers had survived until the end of the war. In the end all the Jaegers and most of their pilots were sacrificed to bring the war to an end even as the governments of Earth had given up on them. But they won. _Gipsy Danger_, a Mark 3 Jaeger, was piloted into the breach itself by hiding on the signature of a dead Kaiju, and detonated itself within as its pilots, Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori barely escaped with their lives, destroying the portal.

All told, the story should have ended there. But humanity was not willing to trust that conflict was over so soon. A year later, another portal opened. Kaiju poured out, dozens, rising from the depths to attack once more. Only to stop. Because when the Kaiju attacked again, they were met by a force made up of Jaegers. A force made up of 60 impossibly huge robots. Mark 6, each top of the line, trained by the best and willing to sacrifice everything for humanity. And at the front, stood the _Gipsy Danger 2_, piloted by Raleigh Bucket and Mako Mori. As the Kaiju stared at the army facing them with the best dumbfounded look a monster can sport, Mako and Raleigh shared a smirk before saying two words in unison.

"Take 'em."

With that final battle humanity removed the threat of the Kaiju. The new portal is defended round the clock by an ever more powerful force of Jaegers, each more than capable of handling an army. Raleigh and Mako became heroes, and upheld as some of the greatest example of humanity in history. They continued to train new Jaeger pilots, and streamlined the process of joining the Earth under a single united government until their deaths decades later. It was no surprise that with this newfound peace, humanity became ready to tackle new challenges. And so it turned to the stars.

And the Jaegers, now an important part of human culture, were at the forefront of this endeavor. Once primarily combat weapons, new Jaegers were built for exploration, traveling the Solar System. And then, on Mars in the year 2148, a new discovery was made. The Prothean research facility. With the discovery that more life had once existed in the universe came the technology. Element zero and mass effect fields revolutionize human technology, allowing for the building of larger Jaegers with Mass Effect drives.

The mass effect drives allow Jaegers to move with blistering speed and power by using the fields to lesson the mass of the Jaegers. This also allows for limited flight in gravity environments, and constant flight in deep space. Mass effect fields also allow for Jaegers with shielding. One more upgrade given to them is due to the realization that the fields can 'shape' a plasma shot in mid-flight, allowing for various creative ways of combining them.

Of course, this becomes soured by the First Contact War.

The turians, a member of the Council Races, attack when they see human explorers try to activate a dormant mass relay, a practice forbidden by Council law. The turians find themselves completely outmatched. No vessel made by the Council races can match a Jaegers speed, strength, maneuverability, and flexibility, making fighting one in a standard spaceship a practice in futility. The Jaegers and their pilots, led by Commander Williams of the Alliance Navy, curbstomped the turian invaders on every front.

For the next month, turians are continuously driven back by the human defenders, and the Turian Hierarchy begins to prepare for full scale war. Luckily the Citadel Council intervenes before more bloodshed can ensue. The Pacific Rim Alliance Of Earth, named for the final battle in the Jaeger-Kaiju war, agree to a truce, and join the greater galactic community. As part of the agreement, humanity gives the Citadel Races the schematics to build their own Jaegers. The concept of Drift Compatibility, so much like Asari mind melding, becomes a subject of great scientific interest. In return, humanity begins the manufacture of Jaeger-sized omni tools, allowing greater flexibility in combat.

Studies are still being done on the effects of interspecies drifting.

* * *

Authors Note: I became one of those writers with a dozen unfinished stories. I'm now one of those guys. Oh well. Hope you guys enjoy the stuff I put out anyways. So, this one came to me after finding out about the Pacific Effect movement on Tumblr. Basically, what happens when you have a humanity that is already used to fighting giant monsters, facing off against the Reapers. What happens when the tech of two universes melds together? And what changes when members of two sentient species enter the drift together? Well heck, it would be fun if I just told you, now would it?

See ya next time! Please review!

Edit: Now with better grammar! Thank you to Your Tomadachi for the help :D


	2. Chapter 2

The group gathers in the main hanger bay to the Normandy. The humans of the group wear the standard Alliance armor, though John's came with a strange metal attachment between the shoulder blades, something shared with Jane. They had some time before coming into the first drop point, allowing John to bring up a matter of critical importance to Anderson.

"...so what I'm saying is, why carry two extra weapons, if they just end up weighing me down? I mean, we don't have to worry about ammo anymore, and I don't even know how to use the sights on these things! There are no drawbacks to me carrying only my primary weapons sir."

Anderson sighs as he rubs his forehead with two fingers. "I sympathize Commander, I really do. But regulations are regulations. I have heard some people are working on getting this ruling repealed, but for now, we stick with it."

"It is rather strange." Nihlus pipes up. "Turian military forces have never even thought of something like that. It seems wasteful."

"That what I'm saying!" John says, looking around at everyone as Jane palms her forehead in embarrassment for her brother.

"Anyways, we'll be coming in soon." Anderson says. "Our plan is simple. Jane and Nihlus will drop in at the first drop point and head in first. Their priority is recon. They'll give you reports on enemy forces and battlefield conditions. John will lead the second team. You three are the heavy forces. Disable all enemy forces and get any survivors out if you. However remember that the beacon is the priority. Survivors are a secondary objective."

At that, several people in the room seem to turn a bit uncomfortable. John and Jane share their customary glance. Kaidan shuffles his feet awkwardly. Jenkins just seems excited for the adventure ahead, turning to give John, Jane, and Nihlus worshipful glances in turn. But in the end, orders were orders.

The doors to the hanger bay slides open, and Nihlus gave his weapons a final check before heading out the doors. Jane turns to give John a roguish grin, then follows Nihlus out. The turian and human land on the ground and move forward with professional movements, guns in hand as they advance with smooth efficiency.

The Normandy rises up and flies to the next drop point, letting John, Jenkins, and Kaidan hop out. They turn to look as the Normandy flies off, leaving them to their mission.

As their ride home flies off, Jane comes in on the radio. "Recon Team to Heavy Team. Things look pretty bad here John. Looks like the colonists are still fighting, but we can't tell if they're winning or not."

John nods. "Got it. We'll head in and check things out. Stay safe sis."

"You too." Jane shuts off the link between them.

The three men glance at each other, then begin to walk, taking their guns out. Kaidan takes a moment to look around the beautiful landscape. Green grass, crystal clear water, bright sunlight streaming through leaves. The place looks much like paradise its constantly compared too. Except for the explosions and loud gunfire that can be heard as smoke rises in the distance.

Kaidan, the consummate professional, takes stock of the situation before sounding out. "Ship perimeter secure, Shepard."

John nods, turning to pat Jenkins on the shoulder. The rookie turns with a look of pain and sadness on his face, and opens his mouth to say something. John stops him by gripping his shoulder and squeezing it, Giving him an understanding nod. Jenkins bites his lip and nods back, determination filling his features.

Its then that Kaidan notices the strange creatures floating aimlessly by.

"What the hell are those?" Kaidan asks in bewilderment. John and Jenkins turn to look in the direction Kaidan is pointing at. Jenkins relaxes at the sight of the bulbous beasts floating by docilely.

"Gasbags. Don't worry-they're harmless."

"They look like floating potatoes." John says in bewilderment as he pushes at one with the tip of his shotgun. It doesn't respond, simply moving away. "Weird. Anyways, we'd better go."

They walk away from the clearing, moving down a trail. They reach another clearing, this one full of rocks set up around the landscape. Shepard prepares to motion Jenkins forward, when a thought comes to him. He turns to give Jenkins a critical look, thinking back on Jane's earlier assessment that Jenkins isn't ready for away missions. John looks the young man over, then blinks.

"Jenkins. When was the last time you checked your shields?"

The rookie soldier stares at John for a moment, then looks down at himself. "Uh... a month ago? Why?"

John picks up a rock and throws it, smashing Jenkins on the head. Jenkins helmet dents inward a bit as the young soldier swears like the sailor he is. He steps back, eyes watering from the impact and gives John a disbelieving look. "What was that for?"

"Jenkins." The young man turns to Kaidan, who gestures for him to check his stats. Confused, Jenkins takes a look, and sags at the sight of his HUD showing him with full shields. Despite having been hit by a rock thrown at high speed, something that would have been impossible with a working kinetic barrier. An obvious computer error, and something he should have checked.

"Oh."

John lets out a sigh. "Jenkins, go back to the drop point and call the Normandy for pick up."

Jenkins sputters, his cheeks turning red. "But Commander, I can still help! This is my home! I can still-"

"Jenkins I can not allow you to continue this mission with inadequate equipment. There will be other assignments. But take this as a small lesson. Always maintain your equipment. For now, return to the Normandy drop point and call for pickup. We'll talk to Captain Anderson about this later."

Jenkins face tightens, and he steps forward angrily. John doesn't respond, only staring the younger man down with stern discipline. After a moment, Jenkins caves and salutes John. "Aye Aye Commander."

The dejected soldier turns and walks away, mumbling to himself as Kaidan turns to John.

"Good thing you caught that. He would have been hurt badly if someone had shot at him like that."

"Thank Jane." John said with a shrug. "I probably would have missed it if she hadn't warned me."

John motions for Kaidan to take point. Kaidan nods and heads into the clearing, heading towards a rock for cover. His caution pays off as a trio of flying machines come soaring out from the woods, sending a hail of bullets towards the marine. John takes out his pistol and shoots back at the drones, pulling their attention away from Kaidan. He growls as bullets spark against his shields, draining them quickly. Thankfully, Kaidan uses the drones distraction to send a decryption program against one, following up with a hail of bullets to finish it off as it sputters in the air. John sends a biotic throw against another one, sending it into a wall behind it with a crunch of metal against stone.

He ducks next to Kaidan, and watches his cooldown clear up on one of his newer abilities. He grabs Kaidan as the other man goes to attack the final drone. "Wait. There's something I've been wanting try." He rises up and punches the air in front of him, ignoring the fact he is directly in front of a large stone. A series of biotic pulses shoot outwards, warping the ground in front of him. Passing through the stones in its path like a phantom, the pulse smashes into the drone with incredible force, turning the machine into scrap metal. John grins as Kaidan rises up to stare at the dead machine.

"What was that?" Kaidan asks.

"Shock-wave. Jane showed me a clip of some asari maidens practicing it, and I've been dying to figure out how it works." John winces as he watches his cooldown on the ability slowly trickle down. "Looks like it takes a bit out of my implant though. Can't use it in the middle of a firefight." He switches to his shotgun and motions forward. "Come on. We need to get to that beacon."

Kaidan nods and follows him. After a bit, Kaidan can't help his next question.

"Think you can teach me that?"

John grins.

* * *

They fight three more drones, taking them apart in a hail of biotics and bullet shells. Johns shields get depleted in the battle, but a quick dodge behind cover keeps him alive long enough for Kaidan to finish the last drone.

As they head to the next clearing, Jane chimes in on the radio. "Recon Team to Heavy Team. We've got survivors."

John starts at this, and turns to share a look with Kaidan, who nods with a small smile. "That's good news. Anything they can tell us about the opposition?"

Nihlus answers instead of Jane. "From the survivors description, and more importantly the pieces left over, these are geth."

Kaidan looks up, a confused look on his face, and turns on his radio. "Can you repeat that Nihlus? Geth? There haven't been any geth seen beyond the veil-"

"In two hundred years." Jane cuts in. "I've done my research too Kaidan. And these things fit the profile. It's the geth."

John, his mind racing, finally speaks, his voice firm. "Doesn't matter. All they are is an enemy for now. We can talk about the implications of this later. Right now, we need to get the beacon. Me and Kaidan will continue on to the dig site"

"Right. Me and Jane will head out and meet you there."

"_After,_ we make sure the survivors are okay." Jane says pointedly. John can easily imagine the pointed look she's giving Nihlus right now. The turian sighs.

"Yes of course. Recon team out."

The radio cuts out, and Kaidan gives John a smile. "Your sisters quite the character."

"Thank god, or I would have never gotten where I am now."

They continue on, and are immediately attacked by another group of drones. This time one of the drones launch a rocket at them. John and Kaidan's eyes widen as they leap for cover, barely avoiding the rocket. John launches a shockwave from cover, the pulses ignoring any obstacles while catching one of the drones in his attack, and Kaidan follows up with a decryption program on the rocket drone. John rushes forward, getting in range to takes apart the rocket drone with a shotgun blast as Kaidan uses a biotic throw on the last drone. They wait in silence for a bit, then relax when its clear they're safe for the moment.

The next part of the path dips sharply, allowing them a top down view into the next clearing. This gives them a perfect front row seat to the soldier that rushes into the area. Two drones follow her in, shooting at her. With practiced motions, she spins around and fires her assault rifle. Bullets fly with incredible speed and accuracy, taking the drones apart like tinfoil. She retreats into cover when two geth soldier platforms stomp into few, their flashlight heads glowing as they move eerily forward.

John and Kaidan rush forth, taking positions next to the female soldier as they return fire. She gives them a wide eyed look, then grins and rises up next to them. Kaidan takes out their shields with an overlord and John sends the pair flying with shockwave, allowing the female soldier to finish them off with a soak of assault rifle fire. With the small skirmish over with, they turn towards each other.

John reconizes the female soldier as the woman in the video, who had lead the soldier under her command so well. She is tall, with long black hair pulled into a ponytail and strong features. Her armor is dark black with red highlights, a N7 designation stamped prominently on her chest plate. She smiles at the pair.

"1st Lieutenant Ashley Williams of the 212." She says with a rather jaunty salute. "You in charge here sir?"

"Lieutenant Commander John Shepard, SSV Normandy. This is Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, same. You look like you were having fun." He says with a small smirk.

"Just happy to have help. We've been doing okay, but the fightings been pretty bad down here." She glances at his chest, stopping for a moment at the designation stamped on it with wide eyes, then looking up at him. "You're an N8 operative."

"Thats what they tell me." He says with a shrug. She frowns at him.

"If you're a Jaeger pilot, why aren't in one now, kicking ass and taking names? We could really use one of those things."

"Jaegers are useful, but going up against soldiers and drones in one would be like me taking on a colony of ants. Fun, but a whole lot of property damage." He rubs the back of his head. "Plus, we didn't have one."

Kaidan coughs, looking away for some reason.

"Anyways, whats the situation right now?" John asks her.

"Well it was all clear this morning. I was told to take my team to patrol the perimeter. We were in the middle of finishing up when the attack hit. We tried to send out a distress call, but communications got jammed before we could be sure it got out. After that, me and my squad went back to the beacon, got out as many survivors as we could." She looks away, shame filling her features. "Not... Not everyone made it out." She hardens. "But we got the rest of them to safety. I left my squad with them while I went back to do recon, but got spotted by those drones. So I retreated to find better cover, and now I'm here."

John nods slowly, and gives her a good look in the eyes. "There wasn't anything you could have done. You saved all the people you could have. Be glad you saved so many."

She looks up at him, then nods, straightening her back. "Yes sir."

"We need to get to that beacon." John gives her a smile. "How 'bout it Williams? Give us the grand tour."

She grins back, a dark fire in her eyes. "Hell yes."

She leads the way, taking them further up the path.

* * *

Jane and Nihlus continue on cautiously, leaving the destroyed bodies of geth smoking behind them. Nihlus stops her for a moment, and stares though his sniper rifle's scope before turning to her. "I can see a small spaceport up ahead. It doesn't look like anyone is there now, but-"

"Could be worth a look." Jane finishes. She takes a look at her map, biting her lip for a moment, then looks at him. "What do you think? Check it out, circle back to the beacon later?"

Nihlus nods and opens up his radio to tell John's group. "Heavy Team. Me and Jane have found something we want to check out..."

* * *

At the same time, The trio comes up to the dig site. As soon as they round the corner, a group of five Alliance marines spin to train their weapons on them, only to stop and lower their weapons in shock as grins spread on their faces. "Lieutenant! We thought you were dead!" One of them crows happily.

Ashley smiles widely as she steps forward to clasp his shoulder. "What, no faith in my skills? I thought you knew me better than that."

He smiles back and nods. "Yes ma'am." He gives John and Kaidan a quizzical look as they walk up. Ashley turns to introduce them.

"These are Commander Shepard and Lieutenant Alenko of the Normandy. They're here to pick up the beacon."

The group of soldiers snap a respectful salute, several of them giving John's N8 designation a wide-eyed glance. John picks out one of them to talk to.

"Whats up ahead?"

The soldier glances down the path. "More geth. We've been trying to get down there for a while, but they keep driving us back. This time around we managed to skirt around the camp, come around to the other side. We figured they would attack the science camp if them knew we were at they're rear. They're doing something to the beacon. Messing with it somehow. We were about to make another attempt to take the dig site when you got here sir."

John nods. "Okay. Maintain your position here. The three of us will go down and secure the beacon."

The soldier blinks. "Um... just the three of you, sir?"

John smiles. "Well, I've got my shotgun too I guess. Haven't named her yet, but she's been rock solid so far."

The three of them are about to turn away when one of the soldiers, a young man with a crew cut, pipes up. "Ma'am! I found your weapon for you."

Ashley turns around with a confused look on her face. Then she smiles softly at the assault rifle that's handed to her, a tough looking black and red monster. It looks like a standard rifle, in the same way a tiger looks like a house-cat. "It was in your quarters when we were looking for more survivors. I figured you'd want to get a hold of it."

She looks at it lovingly and gives the young man who handed it to her a nod, getting a blush in response. "Thank Mike. God I love this thing. Thought I might never see it again." She immediately replaces it with the one she's wearing and turns to follow John and Kaidan up the path.

They walk for a bit, weapons out, and get in range of the dig site. The site of the place is soured with the reveal of the various geth around it, who turn to attack them as they duck behind cover. Ashley grins savagely as she rises up over cover for a moment and takes aim. John sees her target and orders Kaidan to drop a overload on him.

As the geths shields disappear, a small projectile launches from Ashley's assault rifle, smashing into the geth like a car. The biped machine is sent flying, and crashes into the wall behind it like so much garbage. Ashley lets out a loud cry of joy as she follows up with a burst of fire, keeping the geth in cover. Kaidan continues to offer support with his abilities, disabling weapons and shields periodically as he follows up with biotic throws.

John chooses to take the more direct approach. He lights up a powerful biotic field around him into a barrier shield, and moves in, sending shock-waves rippling along the floor to destabilize the mechanical soldiers as he fires his shotgun. One geth manages to get close, and tries to elbow him in the face, forcing John to duck back. The Vanguard growls low and pulls his fist back, a biotic field building around his arm. He smashes his fist into the geth in front of him. With the added power of his biotics behind it, his punch easily sends the geth flying with bone crunching force. John turns to shoot another geths head off, giving a small nod to Ashley when she take another one out with her sniper rifle. Her and Kaidan work together to take the last one down, using a combination of a throw and concussive shot to completely collapse its metal/plastic structure.

John breathes a sigh of relief, then winces, lowering his hand to to his waist. He pulls it away with a bit of on his finger tips. Kaidan notices and walks over hurriedly. "Here, let me check it out."

John takes the chance to lie down gladly, resting back as Kaidan studies the wound. Luckily the bullet didn't hit one of his organs, simply entering and exiting his lower torso. Nothing a quick application of medi-gel doesn't fix.

John gets up to look around the dig sit, frowning at the site of an empty section of earth the place seems to be centered around. He turns to look at Ashley.

"No beacon." She says with a shake of her head. "My squad was right. The geth were here for the beacon."

"Then we better get it back before they get off-planet." Kaidan says grimly.

At that moment, their radios turn on. Nihlus comes on.

"Heavy Team. Me and Jane have found something we want to check out. A small spaceport up ahead. Its just ahead of your location, so we'll meet you there."

John nods. "Roger that Recon Team. We're on out way. Be advised, geth have taken the beacon. Keep an eye out for it."

"Understood Commander." Nihlus says calmly.

The radio cuts out once more. John motions his head down the path. "Come on. Can't be much further."

Nihlus turns to Jane with a solemn look on his face. Even without being turian herself, Jane can tell.

"At least we know why the geth are here."

She nods. "This isn't just some random attack. They came for the beacon. Which means someone told them about it."

"You think someone betrayed the Council." Nihlus says with a frown.

"Maybe. Its possible someone on Eden Prime simply let it slip, and the geth managed to hear about it on a insecure communication." Jane says calmly. "Either way, we can't let them get it."

"Agreed. Come on." The pair head to the space port, facing to opposition as they go. Soon, they move with quiet calm onto the main platform, Jane taking point. A figure is standing on it, and the pair stiffen as they come closer. Jane takes position behind a crate and shares a glance with Nihlus before she spins up and aims her pistol at his back. She stops, startled at the sight before her, and starts to lower her weapon.

A turian, dresses in sleet-gray armor. He turns at the sound of her armor rustling, revealing a face bristling in cybernetics. Interestingly he has no tattoos on his face, designating him as a 'barefaced' turian. Despite what that says about his status, he stands with easy confidence, and gives Jane a contemptuous glance.

"Pathetic." He growls, raising his right arm. It begins to glow with biotic power. Jane curses under her breath and focuses her own powers, her body awash in blue light as she raises her pistol back up.

The combatants are stopped when Nihlus rises up and stares at the turian. "Saren? Is that you?"

Jane and Saren turn to him, startled. The power gathered around them fades as Saren smiles at Nihlus. "Ah. Nihlus. Good to see you."

"What are you doing here? The Council didn't tell me another Spectre would be here. Let alone you." Nihlus said in confusion.

"They thought you could use some help." Saren said smoothly, crossing his hands behind his back. "And as you can see, they were right."

"Well..." Nihlus turned to look at Jane. She hadn't dropped her weapon, simply focusing on Saren with cold hard eyes like jade. "Commander. What are you doing?"

"It doesn't add up." She says grimly. "Why wouldn't any of the survivors we found mention a turian? Even if they didn't know he was a Spectre, the fact he's a turian on a human world still makes him stick out."

Saren scoffs. "Typical human paranoia. I kept myself hidden. This mission does require stealth after all."

"Commander, Saren was my mentor when I was training to be a Spectre. He is more than capable at keeping hidden from surveillance. There is no need for any of this." Nihlus says while putting hand on Jane's shoulder. The redhead doesn't drop her weapon, only glaring harder at Saren.

"Stealth? While standing on a platform in the open where anyone can see you? Especially the robots that have already tried to kill me and Nihlus?" Jane asks coolly.

Nihlus gives Saren a startled glance, his eyes widening. Saren simply scoffs once more. "Please. I was investigating the scene. I can hardly do that while lurking in the shadows."

"True." Jane assents. "But than there's the moment you saw me. Took long enough to get a good look and call me pathetic. Its clear I'm no geth. Even if you suspected me for a traitor, you would have at least asked some questions."

"To a human with a gun on me?" Saren said contemptuously.

"Correction." Jane looks out of the corner of her eye to see Nihlus give Saren a searching look. "She was lowering her gun. That was clear, especially to someone with as much experience as you."

He drops his hand down, bringing it close to his pistol. "Saren. Why don't you answer the Commander's questions more clearly?"

Saren growls under his breath. "Really Nihlus? You're going to take a humans word over mine? What was your name again? Jane?" He says mockingly to the Commander, who simply glares at him.

"It all depends on your answers Saren." Nihlus takes his pistol out and aims. For a moment they stand still. Then Saren smiles.

"Well. I guess I should have quit while I was ahead." In a blur of motion he throws a grenade at them, forcing the pair to dodge away. The three of them take cover. Jane rises up to throw a overload at Saren, destroying a portion of his shields. The cybernetic warrior responds with a biotic throw, sending Jane flying. He prepares to follow up, but is forced to duck when Nihlus returns fire, pouring bullets on his mentor. Jane shakes her head and rises up. She takes a moment to activate her biotic barriers, taking in the sight of her shields rising. After a deep breath, Jane rises up and and starts shooting at Saren, sending out biotic throws every time he rises up to attack.

Saren grimly decides to change the battlefield. He envelops a crate in a biotic field and throws it at Nihlus, forcing the other turian to dodge. With fluid grace, Saren rushes forth, his shields taking the brunt of Jane's assault as he reaches to grab her throat, preparing to crush her neck with his cybernetic hand.. Jane's eyes widen at the sight of Saren easily weathering her attacks, then harden when she realizes what he's doing. She stand her ground, snapping her hands out to her sides.

A pair of orange blades sprout from the omni-tools on both her arms, snapping out with a metallic sound. She snaps them forward, trying to take Sarens arm off.

Saren pulls back before he can lose a limb, eyes narrowing as he eyes her blades warily. Jane doesn't give him a moment to relax, rushing at him with incredible speed with her right blade stabbing for his throat. Saren barely dodges again, and steps forward to try to smash her head in, only pulling back when she rebuffs him in a whirl of orange light. The two continue this dangerous dance, almost, but not quite touching each other with blows shooting to kill. Nihlus rises up from the ground and takes aim.

"Jane, move!"

She leaps back, leaving Saren to be attacked by Nihlus' assault. Saren is forced to retreat under the hail of bullets, pulling back up the main ramp. He throws a pair of grenades to get them to take cover, and frowns when he sees John, Kaidan, and Ashley rushing towards the platform. He takes stock of his chances for a moment.

"Well apparently I can't waste any more time with you all. It seems I have to take my leave." He gives them a smile. "After all, I have a beacon waiting for me." He grips a group of unstable containment units in a biotic field and sends them flying at Nihlus. The other turian is sent flying and lands on the ground. He begins to cough as the containment units crack, spilling poison around him.

"Nihlus!" Jane rushes over to him, pulling the wounded turian out of the cloud of gas. She looks up and curses under her breath when she realizes that Saren is gone.

* * *

Moments earlier, John was leading his team up the path. They enter the vicinity of the science camp, and are let in quickly when the guards recognize Ashley.

"Good to have you back Ma'am." One of them says happily. Inside, several soldiers and scientists mill around in an orderly fashion, keeping watch and passing around supplies. The soldiers turn and smile in relief at the sight of Ashley. The scientists give her a grateful smile. One of them, a woman with short red hair wearing a scientists lab coat, looks up and runs over to them. "Thank the Maker, Ashley! We thought we were the only ones to make it! Are there more?"

Ashley nods. "There were some soldiers behind us Dr. Warren. They should be coming soon."

Dr. Warren sighs in relief. "That's great news. We told them not to rush ahead like that, but they wanted to find you. Made up some excuse about saving the dig site, but it was obvious they wanted their leader safe." Ashley smiled and shook her head at this.

"How've you guys been holding out?" Kaidan asks softly.

The redheaded scientist glances at him, and seems to blush a bit before focusing. "We've been all right. Though we took some loses." She turns to look at a nearby corpse. "Serious loses, I should say." This corpse is shaped like a human, but is somehow cybernetic as well, with gray skin and blue wires winding around organic flesh. Ashley takes a step back in disgust. "What is that thing?"

"Some kind of husk." John said as he lowered down to poke at it, watching it flop around.

"The geth took the bodies of anyone who got left behind. Impaled them on those." Dr. Warren points at a group of tripods just a bit away from them. The members of the makeshift camp give them a wide birth. "Their bodies were... changed. Turned into monsters. They attacked us, like zombies from a horror movie. We had to kill them... we..."

She seems close to a breakdown. John steps forward quickly and pulls a chair out, sitting her down and keeping close as she calms down. After a moment she looks up and gives him a thankful nod. John nods back.

"How did you survive? The geth would have passed through here with the beacon." John asked her.

"That is how we survived. They seemed focused on getting past us. They came through with a large group of troops, kept us fighting them while the rest of them carried the beacon away. They kept a group of them here along with those creatures, but their focus was on getting the beacon out safely."

John rises up and turns to the others. "In that case, we better go after them."

"You won't win." They turn to see a gangly dark haired man step from the crowd, chuckling madly as he came towards them. "The dark age of humanity has come." He says giddily. "There is no hope."

Dr. Warren gives him a pained look and turns to them. "I'm sorry about Manuel. He's always been rather... confused. He's a valuable research assistant, but sometimes-" She stops, startled when John steps forward. He comes to a stop to look at Manuel.

The dark haired man stares up at Shepard's eyes, still moaning."Agents of the destroyers. Bringers of darkness. Heralds of our extinction."

John holds his gaze for a minute. Then he smiles. "Wouldn't be the first time we've faced the impossible. Won't be the last." He gives a confident pat on the shoulder to Manuel. "I'm a Jaeger pilot. That means I fight the things I'm not supposed to beat, and then do it anyways. Far as I'm concerned, this is just one more for the list."

He turns away to look at Dr. Warren. "We have to go after that beacon Dr. Warren, but I promise that help will be coming soon. Hopefully we'll see you again one day." He walks away, making note of the frequency the operators are using to reestablish communication, leaving Dr. Warren with a stunned look on her face as Manuel looks after John with a dazed stare.

Kaidan smiles a bit as he follows after John. "Good Luck Doctor."

Ashley pats the woman on the shoulder and gives her a smile. "Stay safe ma'am." She follows after them, leaving the woman to smiles happily.

"That was really corny by the way." Kaidan tells John as they walk out of the camp.

"What's wrong with corny?" John asks, a wounded look on his face.

"Nothing, if this was a action flick." Ashley added jokingly.

"You're new, stop teasing your ranking officer."

"Yes sir." Ashley says with a smile.

* * *

Moments later, the explosion of a grenade cracks the air. John feels a moment of fear for his sister, but crushes it down, forcing himself to keep control for the moment. Whatever it is, she can handle it. When they get in view of the spaceport, John stops and stares at something in the distance. "That is no Kaiju."

The large metallic looking creature from the video, larger than most modern skyscrapers, lets out a loud roar, its strange metallic shriek filling the air. John gapes at the size of it. It has be dozens of times larger than any Kaiju or Jaeger, dwarfing them like a child's toys. His mind boggles at the sheer energy output the monstrosity must be using just to stay intact under its own weight while fighting a planets gravity. No current mass effect drive could come close.

"It must be a ship!" Ashley yells over the sound of its howling roar.

Spitting in the face of gravity, the massive creature rises into the atmosphere, disappearing with impossible speed. John takes his attention of the strange ship long enough to notice a geth soldier stepping forth, a few of the husk spikes standing ready nearby to assist.

"Lets go." The trio heads down. "Kaidan, pop the geths shields for Ashley!"

"Got it!" Kaidan waves his omni-tool in the air, leaving the geth exposed. Ashley doesn't waste her opportunity, taking the geth apart with several well placed sniper shots to its chest.

John takes a stance as the husks activate. The metallic creatures take one look at him and charge, the strange sound of their metal and organic parts squishing and grinding against each other making John wince. He holds his ground, sending a shock-wave attack to take them off their fight. He shoots them on the ground, taking one apart. The others get up, only to fall when another shock-wave hits them. One manages to avoid the pulses and comes close enough to John to attack. It stops and begins to charge up and electrical fields. John growls when it discharges the field and depletes his shields. John doesn't hesitate to biotic punch the creature, following with a shotgun blast when it doesn't stay down. He gets slammed from the side by the final husk, and barely manages to push it away long enough for Ashley to riddle it with bullets.

"Thanks Williams." He says gratefully. She nods back to him.

The group takes a moment to look around, checking a locked shed nearby for any survivors. No one is inside, possibly having been rescued by the survivors. John takes a moment to note a small note on the floor from someone named Cole. Its apparently a note from him to someone named Powell about holding some packages for him. A more through look around the room reveals the appearance of several weapons, all military grade. Including a extremely useful shield upgrade. Ashley curses as she looks at the small stash. "Smugglers. Taking weapons from the soldiers protecting them."

"Well it looks like we'll get the benefit anyways." John says as he hands Ashley the shield mod, giving the pistol to Kaidan. "Come on, we'll deal with this later. Whatever happens, this smuggling ring is done now."

Ashley nods grimly. "Yes sir."

The walk to the docks is uneventful. Rather than calming them down, the group becomes more and more unnerved. Soon enough, they can hear the telltale sound of gunfire and biotics. John's face hardens when can finally see the platform below. On it, he can see Jane and Nihlus fighting someone below. Someone tough enough to take on a Spectre and Jaeger Pilot single handed. Which makes them extremely dangerous.

They run to the platform, reaching it just in time to see Saren escape. Leaving Nihlus heavily wounded on the ground with Jane trying to help him. They rush up next to the pair, Kaidan getting down to help Jane.

"He's going to make it." Jane says gratefully. "I managed to clear up his airways of the poison. It might affect his breathing, but he'll be okay long enough for him to get to Dr. Chakwas."

Nihlus coughed. "S-Saren. Go after him. Traitor." He coughs again. "Stop him." The turian passes out.

"We'll do our best Nihlus." John says comfortingly. John reaches for his radio and calls the science camp. "Science camp, this is Commander Shepard, we have a wounded turian. We need him safe long enough for doctors to take care of him."

"Understood Commander." A operator says. "We'll have a squad come by to pick him up."

"Roger that. Commander Shepard out."

He gets off the radio and turns to the others. "Make sure he's safe. We need to head go after the beacon."

"And Saren." Jane says in a low angry tone. At a sound from behind a crate, she spins with her gun out, the rest of the group following her lead.

"Wait! Don't— don't shoot!" a voice yells. A man with a scraggly beard and large knitted cap rose from behind a crate, shaking in fear at the sight of all the guns facing him.

"What are you doing here?" John said in amazement.

"You realize you could have gotten killed sneaking up on us!?" Jane said angrily.

The anger on her face, almost elemental in nature, makes the man squeak. "I-I'm sorry! I saw you guys fighting, and I didn't want to get in the middle of it! My name is Powell." He adds the last meekly, staring at Jane. He becomes more frightened when an almost audible crack fills the air as Ashley turns to give him a withering look. Obviously she remebers his name from the smugglers note.

John steps in before he can become anymore frightened. "How did you survive? All the other survivors we found had soldiers to help them out."

Powell looks down ashamedly. "I never had a chance to meet the soldiers. I... I was already behind the crates when the attack started."

Kaidan raised a hand to stop Powell. "Wait a minute," he said incredulously. "You were hiding behind the crates _before _the attack?"

"I...," Powell starts, and then pauses. His shoulders drops in resignation, apparently giving up on whatever tall tale he was originally planning to give them. "Sometimes I need a nap to get through my shift," he admitted. "I sneak off behind the crate to grab forty winks where the supervisor can't find me."

"You survived because you're _lazy_?" Ashley asks, her fury rising.

John cuts in before Powell can respond."You're Cole's contact right?"

"W-Well-" He squeaks when Ashley steps forward, gun gripped in hand like a club. "Y-Yes!"

"Do you have anything that could help us fight back?"

"A shipment of grenades came through last week," Powell offered fearfully. "Nobody notices if a few small pieces go missing from the military orders."

"You greedy son of a bitch!" Ashley cries out furiously as she steps forward, Jane following her steps with a dark look in her eyes. "We're out here trying to protect your sorry ass and all you can think about is how you can rip us off?"

"I never thought you'd actually need those grenades!" Powell screamed. "I'm sorry!"

John sighs at the cowardice of the man before him. Still, the sight of Jane and Ashley coming forth like Valkyries on a battlefield would terrify anyone.

"Give me the grenades and we'll get out of here." Powell rushes forward, handing John the small explosives. "A squad will be coming soon. Watch this turian." He points to Nihlus. "Keep him safe until the squad gets here."

"Do that," Jane says in a voice that brings up the image of a demon prepared to eviscerate a mouse. "And you'll never see us again." She punctuates her words with biotic display, blue light pouring from her in eerie waves as she stares at Powell with her hard green eyes.

"Y-Yeah, sure." He stammers, making sure to keep John between him and the women of the group the whole time.

They walk away, each of them ignoring the man as they walk away. When he can't see them anymore, Powell falls to ground and breathes a sigh of relief.

"Laid it on a little thick didn't you." John says with a smile towards Jane.

She gives him a wide grin, a spring coming into her step. "Na, the guy deserved it. I guarantee he'll think twice before he messes with military hardware again."

Kaidan sighs in relief. "Thank god. I thought someone might actually get hurt for a minute. At least I was right about the whole good cop-bad cop you guys were doing."

"Wait, you guys were doing good cop-bad cop?" Ashley asks as her face scrunches in confusion. The other three stop to look at her for minute. Her face goes red as she stares back. "Well, we better get that beacon!" Hse rushe forward, blushing a bit as she avoids their gaze.

Jane grins as she watches Ashley leave. "Who was that?"

"Ashley Williams." John says.

"I like her."

He gives her a smirk. "Of course you would."

The group turns to continue going cautiously as their motion trackers begin to show several targets nearby.

Jane thrusts her arm out at the sudden appear of two geth coming from around a corner, launching a small blue projectile at the machines. It slams into one, freezing the metal of the geth like a Popsicle. Ashley instinctively follows with a concussive shot, smashing the geth apart into small blocks of ice. John and Kaidan use this distraction to send a throw each at the other geth, tearing it apart under the combined gravitational forces. More geth came flying in, forcing the marines into cover.

John and Jane share a glance. Then they nod, and step out smoothly. One geth takes a shot at Jane, only to be sent flying by a throw. A group of geth turned to fire on John, and instead find themselves frozen by Jane long enough for her brother to send them flying with a shock-wave. A geth thrown by Jane's biotics is shot to pieces in mid-air by John. A rocket drone is disabled by a overload, allowing enough time to come close and hammer it with a biotic punch.

Like machines themselves, the Shepard's walk forward, moving seamlessly together as the enemy part before them like waves. It is the greatest gift of drifting. To know someone so well, so absolutely, that fighting alongside them is like have an extra body. Covering each others weaknesses, amplifying their strengths. One after another, the geth fall.

Soon, most of them lie in ruins, and John and Jane are about to board the cargo train. Kaidan and Ashley break out of their stupors at the incredible display of biotic, tech, and combat ability, turning to look at each other before chasing after the Commanders.

The main loading platform was full of geth troopers, shock troopers, and more terrifyingly, a geth destroyer, all of which turned to attack the group. They duck behind small panels along the walls, taking cover.

Jane turns to Kaidan and Ashley. "Kaidan, you take care of the troopers shields. Keep them down long enough to let the others do some damage."

John takes over since Jane isn't as familiar with Ashley's capabilities as well. "Ash, you've got the long range. As far as I'm concerned, if you get your sights on a geth sniper, it should not exist. Make it happen."

"Yes sir/ma'am." The duo said grimly.

"What about the destroyer?" Kaidan asked cautiosly.

John and Jane looked at each other grimly. "We might have a plan for that." Jane says grimly.

With this in mind, the four of them rise up and start shooting, taking apart geth troopers with now practiced ease. The destroyer on the other hand, acts like an enormous tank, simply plodding on one step after another, soaking up bullets with ease. Then it gets to the Shepard's, getting right between them.

Jane, the more agile of the two, slides between the destroyers legs, her omni-blades out. As she passes under it she slams the blades into the destroyers knee caps, searing hot silicon-carbide slicing into the metal shell of the destroyer and piercing the synthetic tissue beneath it. The destoryer starts to topple forward, unable to stand under it own weight and falls just as John rises up to slam a fist into it chest. The biotic punch caves in the machines body, leaving it helpless to stop the dual boot stomp applied by the siblings.

With the destroyer down, the group is free to attack the other geth, moving from cover to cover while taking them down with ease. As they walk to the front of the train, the entire battle takes another level. Far off in the distance, two crashes can be heard. After a moment the ground shakes, sending them stumbling. Jane looks out in the distance where two dust clouds can be seen, dark shapes rising from them.

"Ashley, can you see what those are?" She asks. The black haired woman nods, taking out her sniper rifle to look in the distance. After a moment she removes her from the scope, face in total shock, then checks again, as if disbelieving in whats in her view screen.

"That's... that's impossible." She says softly.

"Lieutenant!" Jane barks. Ashley turns to look at her, still processing. "What did you see?" Jane asks with quiet calm.

Ashley takes a deep breath. "The geth- well, it looks like the geth... They've built these huge robots. It doesn't look like their platforms, they look like... well, they look like Jaegers. Ma'am."

The rest of them glance at each other, emotions running through them as John turns to look in the distance.

"The geth have Jaegers." He says, tasting the words to himself before shaking his head, fist clenching in anger. "Damn."

Along the track line, miles down the road, two enormous robots, taller than most buildings, rise up from the ground. The beings are identical, with bowed back legs and three fingered arms and legs. Their heads look like they've been taken from a enormous insect, triangular in shape with large black eyes. The overall smooth and curved appearance of the giant-sized robots only add to the predatory look of them as they look towards the location of the Shepards.

(I thought about it, and decided I don't want to do a cliffhanger. Maybe later, but not now. So heres the final reveal)

"What do we do?" Ashley asked. John sighed sadly. "Well if we had a Jaeger I'd say we go toe to toe with these things. But Eden Prime was never given its own Jaeger force. As far as I know, well..."

He turns to look at Jane. She shakes her head. "You know I would have told you there were. I was doing research from the moment I heard about Eden Prime. Nothing I found helped."

John turned away starred at the shadows standing tall in the distance. Than he slammed his fists onto the console in front of him. "Damnit! We can't quit here! There has to be something!"

He doesn't get a response for a bit. Then Kaidan coughs, attracting everyone's attention. "I might have an idea about that." He says sheepishly.

* * *

On the Normandy, Captain Anderson sighs as he waits for a response from the ground team, trying to keep from pacing with impatience. He almost jumps when Joker comes in on the intercom.

"Captain? You might want to hear this. We got a communication coming in from the Commanders."

"Patch it through Joker." Anderson says as he steps up to the screen.

"Aye Aye Captain."

The screen soon blinks on, showing John and Jane standing side by side with Ashley and Kaidan behind them.

"Jane, John. Tell me you have good news."

"Wish we could Captain." John said sadly. "The beacon has been taken, and we are currently unable to follow."

Anderson's face fell. "Damn."

"Sir, there maybe away. Kaidan thinks the Normandy can help."

"What do you need?" Anderson asks, unwilling to beat around the bush.

"A Jaeger."

Anderson frowns, and spots a sheepish looking Kaidan in the background. "Been sneaking around the restricted areas of the ship Lieutenant?" Anderson says, a bit of amusement in his tone.

"Yes sir."

"We'll talk about breaking regulations later." Anderson turns back to the Shepard's. "Yes, the Normandy is currently the smallest Allaince ship cleared to carry a Jaeger. But this is something we've kept under wraps, and for good reason. If people found out a stealth ship was carrying what amounts to a weapon of mass destruction, heads would roll. God knows what the anti-human factions would think. What exactly are you facing that requires a Jaeger."

The twin's give each other a look, then turn to Ashley. Without speaking, the ponytailed young woman steps forward and links her Huds onboard camera with the console. For a moment, Anderson simply stares at the image of the geth Jaeger's rising from the earth, metal carapaces gleaming in the sunlight as they stare with cold menace towards the spaceport. Then he presses a button on the console, speaking to the entire ship.

"All hands, brace for Jaeger drop. And no, this is not a joke."

For a minute, silence fills the Normandy. Then everyone starts running for their chairs, strapping themselves in with practiced motions. Ship alarms start to blare. Joker lays back in his seat and cracks his knuckles. "Well this should be interesting." He says with a wide grin. "I never knew we had one of these thing on the ship."

Outside the Normandy, in deep space, the ship turns until the top of it is facing the planet. The top section of the ship splits down the middle, sliding open to reveal a depression in the ship. Inside this compartment is a blue glow, hiding the features of what's inside. The ships engines move it to a calculated position, preparing for the final approach.

Back inside, a VI programs female voice can be heard throughout the ship. "Jaeger drop ready. At Captain's command."

Anderson nods. "Launch Jaeger."

The ship shakes as its mass effect drive sends the figure within the ship flying downwards. In seconds it hits the atmosphere, turning red hot. The mass effect drives within it take hold, controlling its flight down to the planet as it comes in.

Down on Eden Prime, John and Jane watch as a red light comes down through the atmosphere. It starts to to let out bursts of blue light, slowing down as it comes in. When its finally hovering in front of them, the burst from its engines send a wave of air out, carrying loose dust and papers with it. Soon it land with a gentle crunch of stone. Their new Jaeger.

Taller than the spaceport by hundreds of feet. Smooth black armor, all sleek lines and curves. Highlighted red in different section, with a N8 designation stamped on its chest, mirroring the one on John and Jane's armor. And of course, the large plasma cannon strapped to its right arm. A powerful machine made to protect innocent lives. The Shepard twins, overcome with emotion, share a fistbump without looking.


	3. Chapter 3

John turns to Kaidan and Ashley as Jane brings her omni-tool out to begin final checks on the Jaeger. "Okay. You two need to ride on the cargo train. Me and Jane will keep you safe from those Jaegers on the way to the beacon."

Kaidan gives him a confused look. "Wait what? Why can't we ride with you two in the Jaeger?"

John shakes his head. "That would be impossible. Doesn't matter how advanced a Jaeger gets, its still a giant robot with moving parts. There are only ever two seats in them." Seeing that Kaidan was about to argue, John continues. "Think of it this way. To its pilots, a Jaeger is as much apart of them as their own bodies. To anyone not in the drift and in control, its a giant roller coaster of death."

Kaidan seems to pale at that, obviously imagining himself bouncing around a room while John and Jane fight. "Understood Commander." He chuckles lightly as he gazes up at the dormant machine. "I should have guessed my day would turn out like this."

"What? Fighting alien machines while your commanding officers take on giant version of the same machines?" Ashley asks with a grin.

"If you think about it, the signs were there all along." Kaidan says jokingly.

John grins at this. Jane suddenly calls him over. "John, it needs two pilots to activate. Can you send your verification program to me?"

He blinks, and looks down at his arm as he light up his omni-tool. "Uh right. Which one is that by the way?"

She grins. "That should be obvious." He gives her a baffled look, then looks down at his tool, smirking at one of the files. One labeled, 'The one that's obvious.'

"Of course." He sends her a copy. Jane immediately enters the data, fingers dancing across her omni-tool with impressive speed. As she begins final checks, the Jaeger begins to shudder. Within the red and black monster, VI programs begin to activate systems, running diagnostics. Omni-gel is directed to areas of the machine that have been damaged by its descent, returning it to full strength. Once its done with repair protocols, the Jaegers drive cores light up. Multiple orbs on the Jaeger's shoulders, lower arms, chest, and back being to glow with incredible power, giving the whole thing the look of a powerful spirit. Finally a blue light glows from its eyes above a black plate over its 'mouth.'

"Final checks done." It lowers to its knees with incredible grace, a small hatch opening in its lower chest. "All aboard." Jane says with a smirk.

"Finally." John cracks his neck as a similar smirk comes to his face.

Jane turns to the others as her brother goes forth to climb the Jaeger so he can reach the hatch. "Make sure you keep Anderson appraised of the situation. Keep your helmet cameras on the fight."

"For the mission report?" Ashley asks.

"If that's what you call millions of views on the Extranet, then yes." With that, Jane follows her brother, leaving Ashley chuckling behind her.

* * *

The siblings enter a small elevator. As the door hatch closes John turns to his sister.

"When was the last time we drifted?"

She thinks for a moment before answering. "Not since last month. Been even longer since we've been in a Jaeger."

John grins. "Brass would kill us if they realized we were using Drift technology for multiplayer games."

"As long as I stay up on the leaderboards I'm fine with it." Jane said happily. She turns to look at John. "You're really excited about this." She say with a raised eyebrow.

John doesn't look at her as he answers. "Aren't you? I mean have you seen this thing? This is the most advanced Jaeger we've ever piloted! It looks like something out of a vid." He grins widely. "The first time we've been in a Jaeger since we were patrolling the Kaiju perimeter on Earth, and its this beast.

She laughs. "Yeah, I'll admit. I can't wait to get started." She lets a dangerous look come to her eyes. "The geth are going to regret this."

He smiles grimly at that.

Seconds later the elevator doors slide open, revealing the cockpit. To the untrained eye, it appears to be a empty room. Cylindrical in shape, with pale white coloring. This illusion is broken once the twins step inside.

Several holographic displays light up, following them as they enter. Called the haptic adaptive interface, it keys in to the microchips in their armor, reading them and sending the data to the Jaeger's central computer. Two spin around each of their bodies, statistics and measurements flashing on them as their armor sends data into the floating displays.

Two blue lights shine on the floor, indicating where they should stand. John takes the left side as Jane takes the right, waiting patiently as she brings a screen up in front of her and gives the VI the go ahead to activate.

"Voice verification required." The Jaegers VI program says robotically. Two display pop up in front of them, with a small empty box in the middle of it. "Please state name, rank, and class."

"Jane Shepard, Staff Commander, Sentinel Class."

"John Shepard, Lieutenant Commander, Vanguard Class."

The box shows the pitch of their voices in wavy lines, bouncing with each inflection. After a moment a ding comes from the computer. "Voice verification confirmed. Welcome to the Neptune Overlord."

The light beneath them turn orange, receding to a smaller circle. Two holes open up for each of them in the ceiling, dropping a metal prongs down. As the Shepard's extend the arms out, the prongs attack the wrists of the armor, linking up with their hard suits. A series of haptic displays appear all over them, like armor floating just over them. The displays form to each section it cover, with a large one over their chest, small ones of the the upper and lower legs and arms, and another one over their backs. As they move, their armor will read the motion and send it into the haptic displays, which will relay them for the Jaeger to copy with lightning efficiency.

A hole opens in the floor beneath each of them. A pair of small rigs comes out of the ground, and rise up towards the only section of their backs left uncovered by haptics. The rigs have several plugs along a silver metal device shaped like a flat snake meant to link into the center of their backs, where a series of ports can be seen. It stops just before entering.

"Engage pilot to pilot protocol. Engage neural handshake?" The VI asks.

John and Jane look at each other and smile before turning to the displays. "Engage."

The rigs snap into the ports. John and Jane gasp aloud as their minds start to race.

John begins to remember. He remembers a life on the streets. Remembers fights over scraps of trash while other children snarl at him. Remembers being cold and lonely in dark alleyways full of refuse, just looking for a chance. He remembers determination, slow and strong, rising like a tidal wave as the will to survive fills him more and more each day until he becomes focused on the idea of never letting anyone disrespect him ever again. Remembers become strong, stronger then anyone. Until people take notice, begin to talk about a tough little kid from the streets who won't take crap from anyone, who can handle jobs any adult would refuse with incredible skill. Another kid talking to him, convincing him to join his crew. And eventually leaving when the crews racism towards aliens becomes to much. He remembers joining basic. Entering the military using the only ID he's ever had, given to him by the only person who ever treated him kindly. Jane Hale.

Jane remembers. A life of happiness, with a mother teaching her, reading to her, being the only father she ever needs. Laughing while her mother, so serious in company, makes ridiculous sound effects to go along with stories of dashing captain who save the universe with a crew of their own. She remembers ships. Always ships, with corridors buzzing with life, every corner of them filled with mysteries and adventures. She remembers loneliness on ships full of people but no children. She remembers sitting in her room as she waits for her mother to return from work, knowing her father will never return. She wonders if he left because of something she did. She remembers watching her mothers strength, how the bravest woman she will ever know faces challenges with nothing more than a small smirk and kind demeanor while always ready to raise steel in the face of stupidity. And as she grew, she begins to emulate that strength, to find her own ability in the classroom, in athletics, becoming better than anyone in her fierce determination to prove herself while all the while remembering her mothers kindness. She remembers her admiration for the woman who raised her, and her wish to emulate her. She remembers joining basic, wanting to prove to the world her mother raised her right. When she enters the training facility, her name tag reads John Shepard.

All of a sudden, the memories seem to merge. The pair remembers getting called into the medical offices when the results of their blood tests come in, remember giving each other looks filled with confusion and shock when they are told of their relationship. They remember standing awkwardly in a hallway, not knowing what to say to one another. They remember Hannah Shepard meeting her daughter for the first time more than a decade, the tears in her eyes as she keeps a respectful distance despite clearly wanting to hug her daughter with all her might. They remember fighting, being unable to understand each other thanks to their different backgrounds, not know how to handle each other.

But then the good parts come.

Jane watches through Johns eyes as he gains respect for her, for her strength and fierce intelligence, watches as he learns to balance with this wild cat from the streets. He begins to search her out, eager to be with a sister he's missed out on for his entire childhood. Even when she rebuffs him, he fights, returning again and again, reveling in every wall she drops in his presence. He finds himself happier than he has ever been in life, sparring with Jane, learning from her as she reveals a head for academics, teaching her how to fight more like a soldier and less like a thug.

John watches through Jane's eyes as she keeps a wary watch on the clean cut momma's boy that is her brother. She is unable to trust him at first, testing him, trying to see if he really is what he claims or just another asshole trying to mess with her head. Soon enough, she finds herself seeking him out. She's there for his first break up, with a civilian girl he has been seeing,and smiles when she manages to make him laugh. She scowls jokingly when the spacer kid sends her to the ground, revealing himself to be tougher than she thought, and teases him when he asks her to tutor him in classes. Joining the N7 program, going through each lesson with blistering speed, working together to overcome the challenges. They remember becoming closer, becoming a true family. Finally being entered into the N8 level.

And then they remember entering the drift for the first time, understanding each other with absolute clarity and not carrying about the secrets they are sharing. They remember hours of combat on Elysium, entering a old Jaeger to bring the fight to the Batarian ships as they take them down in a blur of speed and strength, switching from fighting alongside civilians on the ground to taking on slaver ships in a Jaeger as exhaustion begins to take over. Good people, civilians and soldiers alike, are

After the battle, commendations, medals, interviews. Reassignment to the Earth's Kaiju Defense Force. Fighting monstrous beasts, pushing each other to become better and better. And finally, being assigned to the Normandy for a temporary mission.

From there, the events of the past few hours flow through their minds, ending at the moment they enter the drift. The entire thing takes a matter of seconds. In that brief moment John and Jane straighten their backs simultaneously, breathing deep as their minds become one. The VI speaks up.

"Neural handshake engaged."

On the displays in front of them, a image depicting the world outside can be seen. The Twins raise their arms up and get into the standard stance taught to all Alliance marines. On the outside, the Jaeger snaps into position, mimicking their movements. The mass effect drives all along its body light up, lightning the weight of the Jaegers body by an enormous margin. It moves with incredible speed, hands snapping outward as the Shepard's go through a series of punches. The air crackles with the electric tang of biotic fields, the sounds of shifting metal and whistling air filling the area.

Jane grins widely. "Normandy, this is Neptune Overlord. Light is green and we are good to go."

A small screen opens up next to it. "Roger that Neptune Overlord, we have you." A

woman appears on screen. John blinks at the sight of her natural blonde hair, a rarity. She smiles at the kindly, blue eyes full of warmth. "I must say, I didn't expect to find myself in this position for at least a few weeks. Still, its nice to meet you both. I'm Kahlee Sanders. I designed Neptune Overlord."

John gives a respectful nod to her. "Its an honor ma'am."

"Likewise. Unfortunately we have no time for niceties. Jane, since you have been registered as the tech expert for this, I am sending you the relevant files on Neptune's capabilities. Treat my boy well."

Jane gives her a gentle smile and sets her omni-tool to accept the upload. When the files are sent to her, she stops and stares at the wealth of data crossing her screen. Schematics send shadows across her awed face as her engineering side tries to comprehend what she sees before her. "Oh... oh wow. You're a genius."

Kahlee chuckles at that, tapping at her keyboard. "Funny, you sound like Anderson. Anyways, we'll be monitoring your progress from up here. Lieutenant's Alenko and William have promised to keep and eye on the fight. Good luck Neptune."

John nods as the screen turns off. He looks at Jane. "Ready to take this baby for a spin?"

She laughs. "Hell yeah!"

Kaidan looks down at his omni-tool and sees a message that only says 'Go.' He nods and turns to look at Ashley, whose standing next to the console.

"Activate it."

Ashley slaps the console, sending the cargo train down the track. A mile away, the geth Jaegers react, rising to their full height as a large arm cannon is raised up towards the cargo train. Blue plasma fire glows from inside the cannons, lengthening the shadows behind them. A whine fills the air around them as they charge their shots, letting them loose. Like a pair of blue suns, the balls of plasma fly across the landscape, turning dirt to glass. Ashley winces back as bright light threatens to blind her. The balls of flame hit with a roar of sound, eradicating the area around it. The cargo train shakes like a giant child is shaking it,and only their helmets protect Kaidan and Ashley from being deafened by the sound. When they look up, Neptune Overlord stands alone in the center of a clearing made of glass. He holds an enormous shield made of orange light, unmoving in the face of the force brought against it.

"Sentinel Shield at full capacity." Jane says with a grin.

Ashley laughs as Neptune allows the shield to dissipate. The Jaeger lowers itself into a runners position, staring across at its enemies with eyes burning blue..

"Yeah!" Ashley yells when Neptune takes off, the light of its mass effect drives leaving a trail as it sprints at speeds rivaling the fastest aircars. Despite its size and speed, its passage is eerily silent except for the sounds of its drives cores humming. The cargo train shakes from the wave of air kicked by its passing as Kaidan smirks.

"This should be fun to see."

* * *

As Neptune charges, the geth Jaegers turn towards it. Up close, the purple machines have vaguely different designs, with one being much bigger than its compact companion. The viewscreen in front of John and Jane helpfully labels the bigger of the geth as Behemoth. The smaller one becomes Roc. As Neptune closes in, the Roc Jaeger drops to one knee and raises it right arm, obviously taking aim with something. This is confirmed when Neptune's systems warn of a target lock.

"John, I need help with the biotics for this one!"

"You got it!"

The siblings focus, using their shared biotics to create a field around them. The haptic fields around them read the energy floating across their armor and responds. Neptune's vast power is focused around it with a snap of crackling energy. When a sniper round the size of a car comes at them at extreme velocity, Neptune disappears in a flash of blue light.

The round crashes harmlessly in the ground a mile away. Neptune appears a little bit away from his former position, arms spread like wings as the rockets on its back burn.

"Vanguard Charge." John reads from the screen in front of him, eyes wide. "Oh that is cool."

"Right?" Jane says with a grin. "You won't believe some of the things this baby can do."

"Maybe. But I sure as hell know what to do with them." He turns them towards the geth. "Follow my lead."

In another flash of blue, Neptune blazes across the field with its rockets sending the suddenly featherweight machine across the field. Moments before its destination, Neptune returns to its former weight, turning itself into a massive cannonball. It smashes into the Behemoth Jaeger, sending it back a step as it shields light up around it. Neptune doesn't let up for an instant once its within the two Jaegers grasp.

Neptune steps forward to slam a knee to Behemoth chest. There is a shriek as shields clash together. Jane let out a grunt when she sees the Behemoth's shields holding easily. Behemoth rises up and snaps his hand outward. A clank is heard when a pair of ports open in the elbow, culminating in a burst of flame as a pair of rockets send its arm flying at Neptune with relativistic speeds. Its fist slams into Neptune, destroying its shields and cracking it across the screen. John and Jane stumble back as pain sparks across their faces. They snap their heads back, letting out a dangerous growl simultaneously as they stare forward. Neptune glares at Behemoth over its faceplate, errie blue fire dancing within them.

He's unable to get his due thanks to the forgotten Roc. The long range Jaeger raises its left arm, sighting along it with professional skill. A burst of assault rifle fire, only thousands of time larger, slams into Neptune's left side, piercing his metal shell. John screams in agony as the haptics floating over that section turn red and begin to wail. Neptune falls to one knee as John blinks black dots from his eyes.

"John!" Jane yells, her voice filled with panic.

"Ignore it!" He yells back. "Send Omni-gel to take care of it! I'll take care of our shields!" He focuses past the sympathetic pain, gritting his teeth.

Outside, Behemoth raises a fist, preparing to take Neptune's head off. Instead of slamming into billions of dollars worth of equipment, it hits nothing but air. Suddenly Neptune slams into Roc, sending the smaller Jaeger flying. Roc flips to its feet, and faces Neptune. For a moment they stand still, Neptune between the two geth Jaeger's as they stare at him with their blank black eyes. Neptune snaps a hand out to the side when Jane loses her patience.

She turns to John. "Swords!"

"Got it!"

With a mental command, plasma sprays from their arms like liquid fire. Before the plasma can spray too far, fabricators within the arms create enormous omni-blades around the gout's of fire. In seconds, a pair of of enormous single-edged blades of light extend from the top of Neptune's wrist, blue plasma swirling within the orange fields. Neptune crouches down and extends a blade towards each enemy Jaeger.

Roc responds by extending a hand out and creating a omni-blade reminiscent of a rapier. Behemoth raises two hands in front of it, watching Neptune as what can only be described as enormous club sprouts from between its hands.

For a moment longer they stare between each other. Then the battle is joined. Roc make the first move, snapping forward with the grace of a dancer. It's blade flashes forward at Neptune's chest, aiming for the cockpit. Jane doesn't let it come close, turning so her right arm can intercept the blade with the scream of screeching omni-blades clashing.

"I've got this one!" She roars as Roc and her begin to trade blows, parrying and blocking with lightning speed.

Behemoth tries to take advantage of Neptune's distraction, swinging around with an omni-club the size of a building towards his head. Without looking, Neptune raises his left blade to block the club, metal component whining under the strain of holding back Behemoths attack. Behemoth lets go of the club with one hand to try to slam another rocket powered punch into Neptune. With incredible skill, Neptune repositions his elbow to intercept the attack, Behemoth slamming its knuckles into Neptune's lower arm.

John grins as he focuses on holding back Behemoth's club and fist at the same time. "Its not one on two." He says with fierce determination.

Jane fights Roc with blistering speed, her omni-blade making the air sing as she grins along with her brother. "Its two on two!"

With John controlling the left side, and Jane controlling the right, the siblings work in concert, spinning their blades to counter and attack their enemies in a blur of orange and blue. Their connection in the drift allows them the perfect teamwork. Their bond, forged in battle and blood, combined with Neptune Overlord, the most advanced Jaeger they have ever piloted, brings them to the full peak of their abilities. Every time Roc manages to slice a piece of Neptune, every time Behemoth smashes apart their shields, becomes motivation. The twins fight harder, move faster, becoming invincible as they pool their strength together.

Kaidan watches with his mouth open from the cargo train as it flies past the battle unmolested. "I want one of those." He says as Neptune clashes with the geth.

"I call first!" Ashley says with a wide grin.

Suddenly, the battles pattern changes with a single thrust from Jane. Seeing an opening, she uses the flat of her wider blade to slap Rocs rapier aside. Even with the lightning fast thoughts of a machine, Roc can't recover fast enough to block Jane's next move. The redhead roars as she stabs her blade into Roc's chest, smashing its shields apart. Her blade shuts down for a second, allowing plasma to pour into the geth Jaeger's chest. The evil machine staggers back as blue plasma cooks its insides, melting steel and wrecking havoc on its systems. The smaller Jaeger raises the plasma launcher on its shoulder, shooting it point blank.

Instead of Neptune, the blast bounces off the tech shield raised around him, sending the desperately fired shot into the distance. Jane smirks from within Neptune as she raises her hand off the tech armor activation button. Roc has time to look up long enough to see Neptune point at it with its right arm, now armed with a plasma cannon. The fully charged blast melts the top half off Roc. The machine stands with no upper torso for a moment, then drops to its knees and topples over.

Now with one arm freed, Neptune turns to Behemoth. The larger mecha is unfazed by the death of its partner. It raises its club in a defensive position, staring at Neptune with cold black eyes.

Jane and John raise arms up. "Let do this!" John roars as they ran towards Behemoth.

Behemoth raises his club up, preparing to smash it down when Neptune is range. Instead, the other Jaeger initiates a charge, smashing into Behemoth. Neptune wraps his arms around the geth and slams it into the ground. While Behemoth is on the ground, Neptune slams a knee into its chest and raise a fist high. Mass effect fields glow around his left fist as he brings it down, increasing his fists mass by an insane degree. When Neptune's fist smashes into Behemoth, it goes completely through its head, slamming into the ground. The ground for miles around shakes with the blow, making Kaidan and Ashley stumble as the cargo train shudders.

Despite the loss of its head, Behemoth still fights, trying to get Neptune off it with punches. The Shepard's don't let up, raising their right arm and pushing it against Behemoth's chest. The arm shifts to plasma cannon mode glowing with bright power as Behemoth's struggles become more frantic. They empty the gun against the machines chest, turning the ground beneath it to glass and molten stone.

Behemoth falls back as its systems shut down. Neptune gets up and backs away a few steps, cannon still raised. It fires three more shots into Behemoth, turning it to sludge. 'Checking for its pulse,' a now standard move for Jaeger pilots.

"And that's how you do the Becket-Mori special." Jane says a cocky grin.

The siblings fist bump as Neptune Overlord stand over his vanquished foes.

"Congratulations." A screen opens up on their displays, showing a smiling Anderson. He gives them a nod. "Good work you two. But its not over yet. Escort the cargo train to the next location. Keep them safe."

Another screen opens up, this one with Kahlee on it. "Jane, I'm going to send you the process to activate Neptune's repair sequence. Look like you two got hit a few times."

John shrugs. "Couldn't be avoided I guess. Those Jaeger's weren't like geth we fought on foot. They reminded me of some Jaeger pilots I've met. Fast as hell."

Jane nods. "For some reason they're nothing like their smaller versions. One of them even used some standard fencing movements. The kind of stuff you'd see them use in the Olympics."

"We saw the same thing." Anderson said with a slow thoughtful shake of his head. "Kahlee?"

"I do have some ideas about that." Kahlee said with a shrug of her shoulders. "But for now, you two have a mission to finish."

"Right." Anderson nods his head to the pair. "Dismissed."

"Yes, sir!" The twins salute. As the screens disappear, Neptune walks up next to the cargo train, stepping lightly next to it as Kaidan and Ashley watch it in silence. Even when walking, a Jaeger is an impressive sight. Reaching up into the sky, drive cores glowing all over its body, cracked and burned metal slowly patching itself with omni-gel. All in all, a inspiring sight. Until Kaidan checked in on John and Jane's comms.

"Did you see that charge at the end? That was awesome!"

"Oh please. I deflected a plasma blast! One second before and the blast would have taken down at our shields, a second after and it would have vaporized us. I _deflected _it! Tell me that wasn't awesome! Not to mention you needed me to take down your guy."

"Give me a break, your guy had a tiny little sword. I was taking on some kind of steroid injected Jaeger one handed. That has to be worth some points!"

Ashley laughs at the twins banter while turning to Kaidan. "I'd make fun of them, but I'd probably end up doing the same thing." She admits happily. She walks up to the railing and sits on it to watch the Jaeger.

Kaidan just gets up and watches the approaching spaceport. "I'm starting to think I'm the only sane man around here." He says to himself with a small shake of his head and a smile.

* * *

At the other space port, a Geth shock trooper places a bomb on the ground. A sound attracts its attention, and it raises its head up. In the distance, Neptune Overlord walks almost silently as it follows the cargo train. In seconds every geth is aware of the danger, and begins erecting shields all over the area. Seconds later, the Alliance marines come in. John and Jane hop out of Neptune, landing next to Kaidan and Ashley. They turn to continue their mission, only to stop and raise an eyebrow at the bomb in front of them.

Kaidan rubs his forehead as Jane kneels down to take care of it. "One thing after another isn't it."

"Its not so bad." Jane says calmly. "From the looks of it there aren't that many bombs, and they're pretty simple to disable." She rises up and turn to John and Ashley, the only other N7 graduates. "Smash and Grab?"

John shrugs. "It would play to our strengths."

"Good." Ashley says with a grin. "I love Smash and Grabs."

"Whats a Smash and Grab?" Kaidan asks in confusion.

"Pretty simple. Just charge through the enemy so we can kill them while taking down the objectives. I usually prefer the stealthy approach, but there's no time for it." Jane nods to them. "Lets move."

They rush the ramp next to the cargo train, coming up fast. Geth on the other side of the port start taking potshots at them, bullets bouncing off their shields as they keep their heads down. Jane rushes to the next bomb. She ducks down low and starts the disable process while the others cover her, taking the attention of the geth off her long enough to disable the bomb. They continue this each time, smashing apart the geth in a storm of bullets, biotics, and tech mines as each bomb is disabled. John takes a deep breath when the last geth goes down, turning to look at Jane as she rises up from the final bomb.

"How much time did we have left?"

She gives him a smile. "You don't want to know."

"Right," He says with a snort. "You need to stop playing those old Halo games."

"What can I say? They remind me of my real life."

The group burst onto the next loading platform. One geth rose up, only having enough time to shot twice before Kaidan threw it over the edge with his biotics. A group of husks screamed as they attacked. John didn't falter, sending them flying with a shock-wave. As the corrupted creatures tried to get up, Ashley and John shot them down with their shotguns, turning them into mulch.

Off to the side another geth trooper raised its rifle towards Jane. She raised an arm and sent a decryption program towards it, shutting down its electronics long enough for her to step in. The geth had enough time to look up at her before she took its head off with her omni-blades. She frown down at its body, then turns to look at Ashley.

"Am I enjoying this to much?"

The other woman snorts. "Please. Why have a job you can't enjoy?"

Jane smiles happily at that, raising her pistol up to shoot at another geth. "You're right!" She says as she takes a geth down by throwing it over the edge of the platform. "And there's all the benefit. Meet new people, discuss culture, see exotic locations..."

"Kill new people, destroy exotic locations..." Ashley sighs happily as she takes a husk apart under a hail of bullets. "This is the best job in the world."

Kaidan and John share an awkward glance as the woman bond over the destruction of their enemies.. John shrugs while turning to knock down a geth with a carnage blast. "At least they're getting along."

Kaidan nods silently, a small smirk on his face.

Soon enough, all enemies are down. They make a final sweep of the area, coming up with several useful mods and weapons, but no enemies. Then they stand in front of the beacon. "Well, mission accomplished I guess." John says while he rubs the back of his neck, staring at the large green structure as green waves of light float up the device. He lifts a hand up to his ear and contacts the Normandy. "Ground Team to Normandy, we've recovered the beacon. No hostiles, waiting for pick-up."

"Roger that, Ground Team." Joker answers." Normandy is inbound. ETA: six minutes."

John blinks. "That's pretty fast."

"Not really. Kahlee was worried about her son, so she asked us to track Neptune's position." Joker says with a chuckle. "I'm not the kind of guy who gets between a mom and her kid, ya know."

John laughs. "Ya I do. My mom was the same way."

Jane smiles at that, knowing what he's talking about through the memories she shares with him. Of course, it was when the two siblings decided to start reminiscing that Ashley's curiosity comes over her. She steps over to the beacon, looking at it with her head cocked to the side in confusion. Suddenly the beacons energy lit up like a Christmas tree, dragging her in. John spins around to see Ashley yell as the energy pulls her in, dropping his call as he rushes toward Ashley. Jane, torn between them, chooses to grab John and stop him before he can be pulled in.

"Its too dangerous John!" She yells as she tries to hold him back.

"We can't leave her!"

Kaidan runs forward to help hold John back along with Jane, the two of them requiring all their strength to hold the man back as he tries to help Ashley. The young woman is lifted into the sky, her head back as she stares with her eyes spinning at images that aren't real. It's over quick. A sudden explosion sends Ashley flying back, skittering across the ground as the beacon shatters to pieces. She has time to look up at them, pain and fear stretching her features. Then she blacks out.

* * *

Authors Note: You know technically, Ashley is Prothean now. Just saying. So, Mass Effect Jaeger's showed some cool tricks, Neptune Overlord kicked some ass, and Kahlee show's up two games early! Anyways, next chapter the heroes have to take care of Ash as she tries to comprehend her visions. And then, the mission debrief, the Citadel, and someone you never expected would be in a Mass Effect fic! ...its Wrex. Wrex will be on.

As always, leave any reviews if you guys want to tell me what you thought. Any question will be answered as best as can be over at the stories Spacebattles thread.

forums . spacebattles threads / hunters-of-death-mass-effect-pacific-rim . 267460 /

Just remove the spaces. Later :)


	4. Chapter 4

John rushes forward, pushing around a limp Kaidan to get to Ashley. Kaidan doesn't stop him, instead following him and Jane as they rush to the prone young woman. John kneels down next to her, looking up at Jane expectantly as she takes her omni-tool out to check Ashley's armor. "How is she?"

Jane taps at her 'tool frantically, shaking her head. "I can't tell. Her vital signs are fine, but her brain scans are really erratic. I don't know what that means." She lowers her arm down and kneels next to Ashley. "We need Dr. Chakwas. I only have basic medical skills, nothing like what we'd need to fix her."

Johns kneels back on his heels, and reaches for his comm. "Joker, patch me through to Dr. Chakwas."

"Roger that." John lifts his omni-tool up as Joker switched channels to the med-bay. John angles his omni-tool towards Kaidan and Jane to reveal Dr. Chakwas on the view-screen. The white-haired woman got to business immediately.

"What's wrong?"

"Ashley got caught in the beacon. Her vitals are fine, but Jane says her brain activity is going haywire." John turns towards Jane, who was monitoring Ashley's condition. "Can you send them the data?"

"Already done." Jane says calmly, typing at her omni-tool. "They'll have it soon."

Another screen opens up, this one showing Kaylee. "John, did you say Lieutenant Williams got caught in the beacon?"

"Yeah, that's what caused this."

Kaylee seems stricken by this. "John, beacons aren't meant for human minds. The way the data enters into a person makes it so only asari and their mind-melding can handle it. This isn't something medi-gel can fix. We need to let her process the data at her own pace, and hope that she can handle whatever it was that the beacon did."

John growls low under his breath, frustration taking over him as he clenches a fist. "Fine! But we have to find someway to help her!"

Chakwas cuts in as she stares at something on her screen with a contemplative look. "Kaylee, look at the data Jane sent you."

Kaylee looks at her own screen. She double takes when she sees what Chakwas is taking about. "Shes... drifting?"

Chakwas nods. "At least, she's has the same brain activity as someone under drift. Maybe there's a way to somehow ease the data transfer if we use our own drift machines?"

"But we don't have a..." John stops, a sudden realization coming over him as he sees Neptune's head in the distance. He blinks, then glances at Ashley. Then he looks at Jane, who stares up at him with dawning comprehension.

"Kaidan, grab Ashley. We don't have much time." She says as she rises to her feet.

Kaidan grabs Ashley and lifts her onto his shoulder, rushing after the siblings as they hurriedly reenter their authorization on the run. "What are we doing!?"

"Something stupid!" Jane yells over her shoulder.

* * *

Kaidan stares around nervously as he steps into the cockpit of Neptune. "Are you sure I should be in here? I thought you said this was a bad idea."

John nods as he helps Jane hook Ashley up to the Neptune, switching out the brunettes black N7 armor for one with a Drift connection, which they found in a storage unit in the locker. "We aren't going to be moving around. All Jaegers come standard with protocols that keep them from moving before their pilots are ready. Standard ever since Mako Mori almost launched a plasma cannon blast in a crowded hanger. Right now, Neptune is just a fancy statue with a Drift Unit."

Jane grunts as she locks the spare Drift suit into place around the prone Ashley. "Which is good, because I don't want to know what a Jaeger acts like when a beacon is running through it."

The pair backs away, staring as Ashley becomes surrounded in haptic interfaces. Jane frowns as she reads the data on each one, circling her slowly. "I can't tell if anything is happening."

"Well, what's supposed to happen?" Kaidan asks softly.

"I don't know. Her brain activity is still going insane." She says as she turns to look at them. "We won't be able to tell if entering the drift has helped her or not. Not unless we were in there with her of course."

John raises his head at that. "What if I did?"

Jane stops to stare at her brother. "What are you talking about?"

"What if I went in with her? Maybe, if both our minds were working together-"

"Then what? I have my brother trapped in a beacon's data stream because he couldn't hold his damn hero complex back?" Jane says as she crosses her arms angrily. "No. We give this a try, but going into the drift is to dangerous."

"I can't just stand here and wait!" John protests.

"And I can't lose my best friend because of a stupid mistake!" She yells back. They face each other, fists clenched as they glare.

Kaidan was watching, eyes bouncing between them. For a moment he was struck with how two people who looked so different superficially could be so similar. Then John steps towards the right of Ashley, tapping at his omni-tool.

"She was willing to fight alongside us, to give everything she had for us. I have to help her. I owe her that much." He says softly as he tries to enter his authorization code.

Jane watches him, shoulders tense as an unreadable look crosses her face. She relaxes after a moment and raises her right arm towards him. Kaidan's eyes widen in shock as Jane seemingly prepares to attack her brother, only to sigh in relief when her omni-tool spins on to activate John's Jaeger pilot protocols.

"Fine." She says as the process begins. "But I'm going with you." She cuts him off before he can speak. "And don't say I'm not. I'm not some princess who will let the dashing hero of the space adventure do all the work for her." She takes position to the left of Ashley, giving her brother a smirk. "You aren't the only hero of this story. Now get ready."

He chuckles, knowing that there is no way he could stop her. He also knows there is no one he would rather have alongside him. "All right." He looks at Kaidan. "You keep watch over us while we're in there."

The younger man nods as he watches the haptic interfaces glow around them. Jane turns to look at Ashley. "Hope you're okay with the extra guests Ash."

"Initiating Three-Way Neural Link?" The VI asks placidly.

"Initiate." The Shepard's answer in unison.

* * *

Three-Way drifts are almost impossible to explain. In theory, they are no different then having a conversation between three people, each taking turns speaking. In practice, it is pure chaos. Three lives become one, memories and thoughts melding in an explosive combination. It is only Jane and John who keep the whole thing from failing. Their familiarity with each other lets them sift through the memories, reaching for one another across the drift for stability. Working together, swimming through it, they find the strength to push through. Then they turn to Ash.

The memories flow, and they become her. The Shepard's watch a father train his daughters to protect themselves, stern but loving as he watches them learn under him. A small smile comes to his face as he turns to one of them, making a joke about her strength. They watch through Ashley's eyes as she grows up loved and cared for, moving constantly as her father is given assignments all over Alliance space. Soon enough though, things change. They stop moving around, and her father doesn't have time to teach them anymore. His new job as a General takes over. But still, the family is happy. Ashley cares for her sisters, teaching them, caring for them, becoming closer and closer to them. Soon, she begins to see the effect her name has on people. The Williams, descended from the man who stopped the Turians with a fleet of Jaeger's.

John and Jane watch memories that aren't their own as a teenage Ashley gazes at her father, his eyes kind as he clutches her shoulders. "Your grandfather, was the bravest man I ever knew. But he was still a man. A lot of people will try to give you special attention because of that. I want you to ignore them. Make sure whatever you get in life, its because you fought for it. A William's is a fighter. We fight smart, and we fight for the right reasons. But at the end of the day, if anyone ever tells me I got where I am because of my father, I know I can hold my head high and ignore them. And I want you to say the same."

John smiles as he feels the fierce approval from Jane across the drift, even as she does the same at the warm feelings he sends her. They watch as she follows the lessons of her father, fighting for everything she wants, proving herself in school, and doing so again in basic training. She goes farther, entering the N7 program. Again and again Ashley carves out a legend of her own, trying to prove that she is more than just her name, every thought and motivation as clear as day across the drift. Finally, the memories reach her assignment on Eden Prime. Meeting her squad, training them in the tactics that would save their lives, becoming a leader. The Geth, the battles, separating from her squad.

Then, meeting Shepard. A small blush crosses John's face at the first thought to cross her mind at the sight of him coming down to help her alongside Kaidan. Jane grins wickedly when Ashley's gaze drifts along John's sculpted armor.

'Nice.' Ashley thinks to herself.

From there, the events of the day flash in a blur. Until the beacon. And things take a turn when it activates. Their thoughts are suddenly filled with rage. The voice of a people long dead. Images of circuitry melded to flesh, jaws opening in a silent scream, a world of broken stone with a corpse sitting silently in a courtyard. The flashe threaten the twins unity, almost over coming them.

Of course, almost is not enough. When their surprise fades, they push, seperating the beacon's message from the rest of their memories. The vision's keep coming, but with the willpower of three minds they become easier to deal with. Soon, one word can be heard, coming clear to them.

Reapers.

And then its over. With a simultaneous gasp, the three N7 members awaken, startling Kaidan. He rushes forwards as the rigs let them go, catching Ashley before she can fall.

"You okay. Just lay back." He says. Ashley coughs a bit, looking around at the others with bleary eyes.

"W-What happened?"

John falls to his hands and knees as Jane kneels next to him in exhaustion. She looks up at Kaidan and swallows before answering. "I think we saw the end of the Protheans."

* * *

Ashley sits impatiently on a bed in the Normandy's med-bay as Chakwas scans her. "Do we really have to do this? I'm not as bad as earlier."

John nods his head from the bed next to her. Nihlus is sleeping peacefully a few beds down, a breathing mask over his face. "We need to make sure the beacon didn't cause any adverse side effects."

Chakwas scoffs. "Of course, this would be going faster if I had only one patient, rather than three." She turns a stern gaze onto John. "The next time you decide to pull such a risky stunt, at least have the decency to think about warning me. Having only one bed ready for multiple patients does not make me happy."

John winces at that. "I'm sorry. But we had to do something."

"And if that something involved sending the majority of your team to the med-bay, than I believe you succeeded young man."

John sighs to himself quietly. The door to the med-bay slide open then, letting in Anderson. He walks towards the pair as Chakwas finishes up. "Good to see you two up and about so soon." Anderson sighs as he sat down on a chair. "I would have been here earlier, but I was having a talk with Jenkins. About maintaining equipment."

Ashley blinks. "Whose Jenkins?"

"A soldier who was assigned to the mission." John says as he finally gets up. "I sent him back when I noticed his shields were malfunctioning due to his inability to take care of it."

Ashley winces. "That sounds embarrassing. And damn dangerous."

"And irrelevant." Anderson cuts in sternly. "For now Jenkins is off active duty, and I have him running maintenance drills. I have to deal with the real problem. Now I know what happened from our recordings of your radios. But we need to know about the beacon. What was in it?"

Ashley and John share a glance. He chooses to take the lead. "Whatever was in the beacon was damaged sir. The best we got were images. But I agree with Jane. Whatever it was, it has to do with the extinction of the Protheans. Killed by some kind of machine race."

Ashley shudders at that, rubbing her neck nervously. "That's for sure. All those... things. Monsters."

Anderson shakes his head slowly, confusion on his face. "That's an interesting fact for a historian. But why was Saren after it? Not to mention the army of geth under his command." He sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index. "Thought I could at least avoid having to think about that monster for a while. Should have known he'd be back to vex me."

Ashley speaks this time. "Sir? You know that turian?"

The older man sighs as he gets up. "Yes. We've met. But that's a story for another time. For now, we're coming into the Citadel. I need you ready to give your full report to the Council. We're lucky. The Turian Councilor, a good friend of mine, is away on business. We'll have time to strategize before we get there."

"Good." The others in the room turn to Nihlus as he props himself up slowly. "Because I would like to know what happened after Saren took me down."

"Nihlus!" John grabs him as he stumbles, grunting under the other males weight. "Relax for a minute. You're still hurt."

"I'm fi-"

"If you say you're fine in front of the one person in the room who knows best you are not, I will sedate you until next year." Despite the nearly cheery look on her face, Chakwas seems to exude an aura of pure rage. Nihlus, one of the best Spectres in history, a turian who took down armies, feels himself shrink back in the face of the unassuming woman.

Ashley hides a smile as John and Nihlus meekly follow Chakwas' orders, laying the turian back on the bed. Anderson stands up with a small smile of his own. "In the mean time, I've asked that Lietanant Williams be reassigned to the Normandy. Effective immediately."

Ashley gives him a shocked look, her jaw wide open. After opening and closing her mouth a few times, she finally managed to speak. "T-Thank you sir. Its an honor."

"I've seen your record Lieutenant. Someone with a track like that can't be wasted on the sidelines because of their family. If brass wants to waste their best because they're scared of offending their father, I'm willing to take advantage of that."

"Agreed." John added.

Ashley gave John a confused look. "Wait, how do you know about mytrack record? You've been here all this time."

"Drift." He tapped his head softly. "Goes both ways."

While Ashley ponders that, Anderson continues. "Jane is with Kaylee, seeing to the redocking of Neptune. She wanted me to tell you she'll be up soon. Bring Nihlus up to speed while I tell Joker our destination."

John groans as a sudden realization strikes him. "Its going to be impossible to pull Jane away from Kaylee. I'm going to have tech facts thrown at me for weeks."

Ashley cocks her head. "Is she really that bad?"

John laughs as Anderson leaves the room. "No, I'm just messing around. But she was always the tech head between us. She's always looking into different scientific journal to find out new tricks. And she's always on the up and up when it comes to politics and cultural things." John shrugs. "I was always more into fictional novels and poetry." He grins suddenly. "She still thanks me for showing her the Star Wars movies. Old as hell, but they hold up to this day."

Ashley seems to perk up. "You like poetry?"

"Yeah." He shrugs. "A lot of older stuff though. You ever hear of Invictus?"

Nihlus and Chakwas share a smile in the background as the hardened soldiers bond.

* * *

Jane and Kaylee stand in the main hanger bay to the Normandy. Kaylee smiles as Jane looks around with wide eyes at the sights around her.

"This is incredible." The redhead says in an awed voice as she watches the process taking place before her. Neptune is being lifted into the Normandy from the surface of Eden Prime. The automated systems on it lessen its weight by a large margin, allowing it to be carried by simple cranes. As he is brought into the hanger, his body separates into multiple pieces. His head, arms, legs, and torso all begin to shift into far more compact shapes, metal grinding together loudly. "How did you do all this?" Jane asks Kaylee.

The older woman chuckles. "Years of research. When the Turian Councilor approached Anderson about the possibilities of giving the Normandy its own Jaeger, I was the one he came too. At first it seemed impossible. Even with plans to make Normandy bigger, a full-sized Jaeger would have dwarfed it. As it is, Neptune Overlord is longer then Normandy. My first thought was to just make a smaller Jaeger, but then its combat capabilities and the upgrades we could add would be severely limited."

Jane nods slowly, well aware of the problems that come with building Jaegers. "Okay. So how did you fix it?"

Kaylee smiles. "Can you show me your omni-blade? A standard one if you could." Jane cocks her head, but silently does as asked, activating the standard model blade given with all military-grade omni-tools. She usually prefers her dual-blades, and John has a love for turning his into a biotic battering ram, but both still has the normal version installed. Kaylee smiles at the sight of the large glowing orange blade. "You understand how those are made?"

"Of course." Jane says with a frown. "Omni-tools have their own micro-fabricators to let us make solid blades from silicone-carbide. I hear some mercs even use them to make crossbow styled weaponry."

"Correct. And a recent look at Batarian armor shows they use the same principles to add vicious spikes all around themselves." Kaylee smirks. "That's where I got the idea. What if, instead of carrying a full-sized Jaeger, we had a Jaeger that could build whatever pieces it needed."

As Neptune's head enters the hanger, Jane can see sections of it disappearing. The pieces, so solid a moment ago, simply cease to exist. Much like her omni-tool when its deactivated. "I call it Omni-forming. Forming entire sections of a Jaeger using the same princibles as an omni-blade. This way we don't have to carry a enormous robot. Its still rather large, but much less so than usual. All we need is the omni-gel for Neptune's fabricators, and omni-gel is ridiculously lightweight. The fabricators are programmed to make all the circuitry Neptune needs to function out of the omni-gel. And since omni-gel can be formed from almost anything, we can have him repair himself for hours if need be." She smirks. "Half the project was funded off the patents for that. A lot of companies like the idea of disposable buildings."

Jane turns to give Kaylee an almost worshipful look. "That is amazing."

Kaylee laughs. "Well its nice to see one of you soldiers interested in the tech behind your weapons. Most just seem to hope for the best."

"Well most people aren't me." Jane shrugs. "I blame John. When we were going through basic I had to help him with most of his tech homework. I don't understand how a kid raised on spaceships his whole life knows less about computers than one raised on the streets, but that's how it was. In return for me showing him different tech skills and helping him develop his biotics, John taught me some fighting skills. Some boxing, wrestling, shaolin kung fu..."

"Kung fu?" Kaylee asks curiously. "How did he learn that? Its not exactly common anymore."

"Apparently from some old man he met who called himself the Spirit Monk. Neither of us knows much about him, but the guy seems pretty famous in old school martial arts circles. He taught him a lot during a seminar, and John picked it up from there." She chuckles. "Those were my favorite parts of basic. Me and John hanging out and messing around while teaching each other stuff."

Kaylee gazes quietly at the warm look on Jane's face. She leans against a console behind her, ignoring the engineers milling around the room. After a moment, she finally speaks. "I always envied them you know." The blonde woman smiles softly at the confused look Jane gives her. "Jaeger pilots. Every one that I've ever met acts like their fellow pilot is a part of themselves. To trust someone so deeply... I really do envy that."

"Well it wasn't really like that at first." Jane says with a shrug. "We used to fight constantly. And it took us awhile to get used to each other. God, we're so different, even today." She grins. "But nowadays? It's like we've picked our best traits and given them to each other. John thinks I'm a lot nicer nowadays. And I think he's gotten a lot tougher, more willing to get dirty in a fight. Best feeling in the world, to watch someone grow alongside you. The drift doesn't really add anything. Just strengthens whats already there."

Jane frowns. "I wonder how Ashley is doing though. She probably has both our memories going through her heads."

Kaylee nods. "Well since she was unconscious she won't be affected as much. A bit of rest, and the memories will start to mesh pretty well with her own. Expect some confusion later, but for now its like she just met you."

Jane seems to relax at that. "Good." She turns to leave, suddenly cutting the conversation short with no warning. "I should go."

Kaylee blinks at the abruptness of Janes exit from the conversation. The redhead mills about the room for a minute, seeming to stare at random things going on, walks into the elevator and leaves. "Huh. Nice girl, but she needs to learn some tact when she leaves a room."

* * *

The next day, Jane drags John behind her by the hand. They are wearing the standard casual uniform for Marines, though both seem to favor old-fashioned blue jeans over the usual khakis. He yawns as she pulls him past amused crew members.

"Good to know you're so excited about this." He says blearily.

"Oh please, like you aren't?"

"I've seen the Citadel. I lived there for a whole month. And you have my memories of the whole thing."

She gives him an annoyed look. "Its not the same thing John. Besides, you didn't even get to see the thing in orbit. And you were like six."

"Seven."

"Whatever. Now come on, Joker said we're coming in."

When they entered the cockpit, Ashley and Kaidan were there next to Joker. Surprisingly enough, Nihlus was there as well, standing with dignity in his scarred up armor. Everyone except Joker, who was focused on piloting, turned to look at the Shepard's. Nihlus gave them a small respectful nod, Kaidan smiled, and Ashley gave them a grin.

Joker finally seemed to notice them, and turned to give them a wide grin. "Hey Shep's. You guys are just in time."

"She is," John says wearily. "I just wanted some more sleep."

"What, and miss this?" Kaidan asked with a smile of his own.

"I've been to the Citadel!" John protested loudly. "I'm not going to see anything I... haven't..." He drifts off at the sight outside the windows. The Citadel looms in front of them, highlighted by a glowing nebula. It's made of five structures sprouting from a ring, with a large tower in the exact center of the ring. Its also positively enormous. As they pull in, its clear that the whole structure dwarfs them massively. Orange lights glow on its silver surface, the exact lights one would see while flying over a city. The whole thing spun around slowly, almost graceful as it floated in deep space. "Okay, that's pretty cool." He says in awed tones.

Jane noticed the dreadnaught floating near the Citadel, a huge beast of ship shaped like a giant purple T. She was about to mention it, when she took a closer look.

"Are those... Jaegers?"

The others glanced at her, then took a closer look. All across the dreadnought, Dark purple figures floated around it. From first glance, several differences could be seen between them and Neptune. They were built far more curvaceously, made to resemble the female form. They were more streamlined, and seemed to be engraved with artistic lines all across their 'skins.' They were smaller than Neptune, and obviously built as much for form as function. Kaidan smiled as one of the Asari Jaeger waved towards them.

"That's the Destiny Ascension and her honor guard."

"Normandy's/Neptune's better." John, Jane, and Joker immediately piped up simultaneously. Ashley turned to give them an amused glance.

"You three getting jealous?"

"No, because Neptune and Normandy could take that ship and her honor guard apart any day." Jane extended a fist towards her brother and pilot, getting a bump from each of them. Ashley rolled her eyes as Nihlus stared at the ship with an eyebrow raised.

"Looks like we've created some interest." He said softly. When they looked to see what he was talking about, they could see that a small group of Asari Jaeger had split off from the Ascension. They took positions around the Normandy, rockets coasting them through space.

"Well that's not ominous." Joker said with a small smirk.

"What are they doing?" Ashley asked tensely.

"Escorting us." John answered. He crossed his arms over his chest, a stony look in his eyes. "Right now, the Normandy is a stealth ship with a Jaeger of its own. We could sneak in and out of any star system, taking people apart with a weapon on the same level as a nuclear bomb. And considering how fast" He turns to Jane. "Just like we talked about."

"Yep." Jane's lip curls into a snarl at a nearby Asari Jaeger, staring at its feminine eyes and lips. "This meeting is about to get interesting."

Kaidan shook his head sadly. "And I was so looking forward to a normal day."

* * *

When they came off the elevator leading from the Normandy's docks, a group of of C-Sec officers were waiting outside. A group of Turians and Human standing straight at attention, all dressed in solid blue colors. Anderson stepped out first, his steps calm and measured. Nihlus followed after, gazing around with hawk-like eyes. John and Jane came out together, their stances mirrored. Their faces differed however, with John taking a more placid appraoch, while Jane's deadly cold eyes made several officers gulp audibly. Kaidan and Ashley were the last out. Kaidan took a page from John, even smiling at several of the officers, while Ashley took on a more bored look.

As they stepped out, a turian male came forward. "Captain Anderson. I'm Executor Pallin, C-Sec. I've been instructed by the Council to escort you all to a waiting room. You're to come with us without resisting."

Anderson cocks a cool eyebrow as John and Jane take post on either side of him. "Without resisting. Are we being arrested Executor?"

"That remains to be seen." Pallin gives the group a leaden look. "All I ask is that you follow me. We'll be taking you to the Council as soon as the Turian Councilor returns."

"And if I say no?" Nihlus steps forward, hands crossed behind his back. "As a Spectre, I could simply ignore you and walk away with them."

Pallin does not respond positively, instead tightening his fist as he glares at Nihlus. Other members of his team have the same response, mumbling under their breathes as they stare at the Normandy crew.

This of course, was when Kaidan noticed the armed mercs on the glass ceiling. "Get to cover!"

His cry comes just in time, as the mercs smash through the ceiling and leap in. Moments before landing, they activate rockets on their armor, stopping their descent. The mercs take position all across the area, taking aim and firing at the group. The Normandy crew spring into action, ducking out of the way as officers die. John graps Pallin as he goes, taking position behind a flower pot with the turian.

"You okay!?" John yells as bullets fly.

"Yeah!" Pallin answers. "Just help us take these guys down!"

"Roger that!"

John links his private mic up with everyone else. "This is John, is everyone else okay?"

"Affirmative." Come the simultaneous answer, pulling a sigh of relief from John. Jane continues. "I've got Anderson with me. He's taken a assault rifle of one of the dead officers, and we're fighting back."

"Who are these guys!?" Ashley yells as the sounds of weapons fire continues. "Who's crazy enough to attack a bunch of well-armed cops!?"

"Worry about that later." John answers firmly. "Right now, we fight."

With that, he snaps up and starts firing back. The mercs, a group of salarians and asari in yellow armor, are crouched behind different objects, focusing their fire on different areas. John notices they seem to be focusing on the Normandy members, and feels his blood boil at the sight. He shows it by sending a shockwave out, throwing three mercs flying. Another merc turns to shoot at him, only to sprout a large hole in his forehead. As he falls to the ground, a turian rushes up next to John and Pallin. He is carrying a large sniper rifle, and is wearing the standard C-sec uniform. Jane follows behind the turian, taking the time to biotic throw a merc taking potshots at her.

As they come closer, John notices the blue facepaint on the turian. He also notices his eyes, and the half -smirk on his face as he slides up next to him. The turian rises up, and takes fire with his sniper rifle. A salarian loses an eye. The turian waits for his weapon to cooldown, then fires again. A asari merc aiming at Nihlus clutches at the bleeding hole where her heart used to be, then collapses. The turian chuckles.

"My mom always said I'd be a heartbreaker." John immediately decides he like this turian.

Jane grins as she runs over and crouches behind cover. "Hey bro! Having fun?"

"So much I want you to have some of it." He quips back. Jane grins, and turns to look at the unknown turian, who goes up to Pallin.

"Are you all right sir?" The turian asks.

"I'm fine Garrus. Just help these people get these Mercs out of my station." Pallin manages to snarl out as he takes out his sidearm.

"With pleasure." The turian, Garrus, turns to give the Shepards a savage look of glee. "Garrus Vakarian at your service. Just tell me where you need me."

Jane nods, then hits her comm. "Ashley, I need you to focus on long range. Priority targets on the asari, we can't have biotics throwing us off." She turns to Garrus. "Same goes to you. Take out who ever you can, but keep an eye on our backs."

"Will do."

The Shepards share a grim smile. "Ready John?"

"Ready Jane."

The two of them rise up and start shooting. They move together, taking cover as they go. Ashley finds herself unconsciously matching their movements, taking out mercs in their blindspots alongside Garrus and Nihlus. It almost becomes a game between the three for who can take out the most mercs, with no clear frontrunner in sight.

As soon as Kaidan finds an opening, he joins the Shepards, covering them by shorting out weapons and setting up biotic and tech explosions.

The mercs don't give up, fighting back with professionalism to take down their targets. Biotics of their own send officers flying into walls with bone crushing force, and overloads take down the Normandy crews shields at regular intervals as they move. Anderson and Pallin take control of the officers and mount a solid defense, turning the small courtyard into a warzone.

Things take a turn when a Asari merc sees the Krogan. For some reason, she decides the unassuming krogan in red armor makes a viable target, and sends a hail of bullets at him. With almost slow surprise, the krogan looks up, eyes narrowing as the asari woman continues to shoot at him, bullets bouncing off his barriers. With deliberate slowness, the Krogan gets up and starts walking forward.

It's a strange coincidence, but both John and Jane have had the occasion to see a rogan fight. John's is from a time where he and a male krogan found themselves standing in a club, defending an asari dancer's honor from a group of rowdy soldiers. He remembers punching a soldier in the face as the Krogan slams a man through a table. It was only thanks to the sound of sirens that they managed to escape being arrested, and John still remembers laughing and patting the large reptile on the back as the pair of them enjoy the aftermath of a good fight.

Janes is a little different. She remembers being put into a cage fight, not knowing who her opponent will be. She remembers taking on an enormous monster that refuses to go down, with fists that hit like sledgehammers. She remembers the rush of relief when the krogan finally falls at her 16 year old hands.

Despite their past experience, nothing matches the Krogan they see now. Built like a tank, his plate-like skin riddled with scars, the Krogan looks like a beast from medieval legend. He ignores the bullets slamming into him and walks up to the asari. She takes the time to stare up at him, eyes wide as he rears back to headbutt her. As her skull shatters against his scarred head, the other mercs notice him, and start shooting. He throws one away biotically, and takes his shotgun out to blow away another, his movements calm and methodical. He seems ready to rush a group of mercs to his left, when they are lifted in the air by a wave of biotic power. He turns to see John and Jane raising their weapons up to shoot the mercs out of the air. As John and Jane rush up next to him, the biped dinosaur gives them an amused look. "So you're what all the fuss is about." He cocks his shotgun and smiles viciously. "I'm Urdnot Wrex. Your new bodyguard."

* * *

Authors note: Welp, two squadmates in one sitting. And a bunch of mercs crazy enough to attack a group of fully armed police officers. Even crazier is attacking the Normandy crew. The list of people who could survive that is pretty damn small. Leave me a review, because those actually make me write like crazy. Seriously, I seem to mash out five pages for every review :)


	5. Chapter 5

There's a brief lull in the battle as mercs are forced back by the various forces of good in the area, allowing John and Jane to get a good look at the krogan before them. Before either one can speak, Kaiden rushes up to them, stopping to stare at Wrex. "Whoa. Who's the krogan?"

"Urdnot Wrex apparently." Jane answers. John frowns.

"As in Clan Urdnot? I thought you disappeared years ago. Presumed dead. The last krogan to kill a thresher maw on foot."

At this, Kaiden and Jane turn to stare at Wrex, looks of disbelief on their faces. Wrex gives John a small nod a bored look on his face. "Thats right. You're well informed for a human. How did you hear about that?"

"I took a class on krogan history for a year. You were listed as a prominent figure."

Wrex snorts. "Well now I'm just a bounty hunter. I've been hired to protect you two."

"By who?" John asks. Several mercs caught his eye, and he sighs a bit. "You know what. We'll talk about this later." He turns to Jane. "Mind if I take him?"

"Sure. Me and Kaiden have your backs."

"Good. Then lets finish this. Wrex, take point. Kaiden, Jane, knock out shields and disable weaponry. I'll be with Wrex. Clear?"

"Clear." Jane and Kaiden say in unison, ducking behind cover as Wrex and John turn towards the mercs attacking them.

Wrex simply grins and steps forward as bullets began to fly in their direction. "Then lets go be good guys."

Wrex roared as he charges forth, swinging his arm out to send a human merc flying. The other seven begin to panic, shooting at him as he laughs eeriely. John uses the distraction to run forward as well, shooting at a salarian merc and taking off his shields. He ignores the salarians panicked shots, stepping into the small amphibians range and slapping his gun aside. John grabs the salarians chestpiece and raises a biotically powered fist. A spray of blood follows as he smashes his fist into the salarians head, killing him. As the other mercs turned their attention to John and Wrex, Jane and Kaiden play interference. An human merc finds her barriers disrupted by Kaiden, allowing Wrex to shoot her in the face. A group of three asari are ripped apart in a biotic explosion when John and Jane combine her throw and his shockwave to send them flying.

All through C-Sec, gunfire and explosion echo, as mercs get taken apart. Jane takes a moment to breath, raising her head up to look around. C-Sec headquarters is a warzone, filled with dead officers and covered in bullet holes. A final merc gets shot in the head, a cry of 'Scratch one!' coming from Garrus. After that, no other mercs rise up, though several officers keep shooting. When its finally over, Jane looked around carefully, listening. Silence met her ears, and she finally relaxed. "All clear here. Ashley?"

"Nothing but dead mercs from what I can tell. Either we killed them all-"

"Or they ran off to fight another day." Garrus adds.

"Either way, its over for now. Meet me by the Executor." Jane said as her brother steps up next to her. "We need to figure out whats going on."

* * *

Soon enough, the group of fighters meet up near the elevators. John and Jane stand facing the group, their backs to the rest of the room. Wrex apparently choose to take a position behind them, looming over the pair with a rather intimidating look on his face. Nihlus keeps an eye on the Krogan, his hand twitching near his pistol. Wrex notices, and turns to give the Spectre a sneer. Ashley takes a spot next to the elevator, a cocky smile on her face when she sees Jane give her a wide grin. Garrus stands next to the Executor with a calm attitude about him, though he can't hide a smirk at the edge of his beak that looks similar to Ashley's. Kaidan and Captain Anderson walk up last, Kaidan having gone to get the Captain from where he had been leading a group of soldiers.

"Good to see we all made it." Anderson said as he stands there, looking over the group with his hands behind his back. "Now can someone tell me what's going on?"

Nihlus gets up, keeping Wrex in the corner of his eyes. "Apparently Eclipse Mercs have decided to take a shot at us."

Garrus shakes his head in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense. Eclipse isn't this sloppy. Attacking a police station in broad daylight isn't their style. Stealth is what they're known for, not full on attacks with high risk."

"So what? We have a bunch of copycats?" Ashley says as she kicks over a mercs body, revealing the symbol typical of Eclipse mercs.

"Maybe. All I know is that this isn't normal for Eclipse. Who were they here for though?"

Jane smiles as she lowers down next to the merc Ashley had kicked over and activates her omni-tool. "Lets find out shall we?" She says as she begins to hack the mercs omni-tool.

"In the meantime." John turns to Wrex, looking him over with a critical eye. "You told us someone hired you to protect us. Can you tell us who? And why?"

Wrex shrugs, ignoring the interested looks the others gave him. "The Shadow Broker. Apparently he thinks keeping you alive can help his interests."

That brought Pallin forward, the turian giving him a hard glare. "The Shadow Broker gave you a job to protect people? That doesn't sound like him."

Wrex shrugs again, a unimpressed look on his face. "Don't really care. The man who said he was his contact paid me in advance. I'm to keep as close an eye on you and your sister as I can for the next few months. But if you tell me otherwise, I'm free to go."

John raises an eyebrow. "Thats all? If I say no you just up and leave?"

"Thats the idea." Wrex says in his gravely voice. John is silent for a moment, then he turns to look at Anderson.

"What do you think sir?"

Anderson sighs. "At any other time I'd tell you hiring bounty hunters is against regulations. But withoutwe need all the firepower we can get right now. So for now, I don't see a krogan, and I haven't seen one outside of a textbook."

John grins at that, turning to Wrex. "Okay then. We'll trust you for now. See what happens later."

Jane speaks up, turning to look at the group. "I got something here." She taps her screen, sending a small memo file to everyone's omni-tools. "Looks like we're popular." She says to John, giving him a smirk. "We have a bounty on us. A big one. With every other member of the Normandy added in as a bonus."

"Whoa." Kaidan says as he looks at his omni-tool. On the screen is a picture of John and Jane, with the amount offered for their deaths. Suffice to say, its a big number.

"Huh. Who put these out?" John asks.

"An anonymous post on some merc boards. Apparently its been circling since before we got here." Jane says as she shakes her head. "We need to get to the Council and present our evidence. Whoever is trying to kill us is involved with the geth attack."

"Saren?" Nihlus says, his mandibles twitching. Garrus looks up at this, sharing a significant look with Pallin.

"He's the only organic who has beef with us. And I doubt the geth would put a hit out on us in the want ads." John answers, crossing his arms sternly.

"Excuse me." The group turns to look at Garrus. "Saren Arteruis? That's who you're blaming for the attack on Eden Prime?"

"Yeah. Why, you know him?" Jane asks.

"I guess you could say that. I've been investigating him for a while now. We were about to drop the case due to a lack of evidence."

Jane feels a smirk come to her lips. "Well what do you know. The turian who helps us take down mercs is also the cop chasing down our target."

"Somebody up there has a sense of humor." John says with a small chuckle. "Executor Pallin. If we had Garrus 'escort' to the chambers, would that work for the council."

Pallin glares at John. After a moment, he sighs, looking around his headquarters. A pair of officers run by, carrying a wounded asari officer. His face goes cold when he sees her wide unblinking stare, the blood trailing down her lips. After a moment, he turns back to them. "Go. Just make sure you take down whoever is responsible for this." He looks at Jane, then John, giving each a pair of dark looks. "This is the worst attack on C-Sec since it was created. I want people to know this can never happen again. Am I clear?"

Jane nods, a serious look on her face. "Crystal." She turns to look at Anderson. "Sir?"

"Yeah. We need to get going."

With that, they all get up and head to the Council Chambers. Garrus give Pallin a pat on the back. "We'll get him sir. I promise you."

Pallin nods, and watches the leave. When they walk out of sight he turns and begins coordinating the recovery efforts.

* * *

The journey to the Chambers is far less tense then they thought it would be. At first, there's a brief panic when they are forced to take seperate cars, leading to a debate on who will ride with who. Wrex, Ashley, Nihlus, and Garrus are the worst offenders, each adamant that they need to ride with John and Jane. Wrex, because he's their bodyguard, Ashley because she feels protective, Nihlus because he doesn't trust Wrex, and Garrus because he's supposed to be their escort. After awhile, they compromise.

John and Jane together, while Ashley keeps an eye on Wrex. Anderson in the car behind them with Garrus, Nihlus and Kaidan. There are several grumbles, but eventually they all concede.

The trip itself is uneventful, and eventually the group find themselves climbing up the stairs to the Council Chambers. The wide open space, warm colors, and a skylight over the top that reveal the nebula in the distance, topped off with beautiful gardens surrounding the stairs. All in all, a stark contrast to the destroyed headquarters they had left behind them.

"This place is beautiful." Kaidan says as he gazes around. "Like a little paradise."

"It is the Council Chambers." Garrus points out. "It would look bad for them if the place was a dump."

"All just a front, huh?" Ashley snorts. "Well it does make a bit of sense."

"How so?" Nihlus asks curiously.

"I never met a politician that _wasn't_ putting up a front." Ashley answers with a grin.

"Well, I don't know about that." Garrus replies as he rubs his right shoulder. "I know a few who aren't so bad."

"You mean you know a few really good liars." Ashley retorts.

"Stow it." Jane cuts in before Garrus can reply. "Get your heads together. We're meeting the Council."

Anderson raises an eyebrow as the group comes up to the top of the stairs, where a balding man dressed in a white suit seems to be waiting for them. When he sees Anderson he raises an eyebrow, gazing at the large number of people around him.

"Anderson, Nihlus. It seems you've gathered an entourage." The man sighs and rubs his forehead. "Which I'm thankful for, if what I've heard about C-Sec is true."

"It is." Anderson says with a nod

"We need to see the council immediately." Nihlus continues. "They need to hear about Eden Prime."

"Unfortunately, that is not possible right now." The man says with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "As it is, the turian councilor was already busy before you all landed. And with the attack on C-Sec, the salarian and asari councilors are in hiding. Apparently the rest of the Citadel believe this is the start of a terrorist attack."

"That bad, huh?" Anderson mused.

"Worse." The man finally turned to the others. "My apoligies for my rudeness." He says as he steps forward and offers his hand to Jane. "Donnel Udina, Human Ambassador."

Jane nods, smiling with stiff politeness. "Jane Shepard."

"I know." He says, surprising her. He smiles at the confusion on her face. "Nihlus sent me you and your brothers file. I was one of the people asked to assess you for Spectre." His smile turns a bit sour. "Though it seems the question of you being assigned Spectre position is on hold for now."

Jane nods slowly. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"There is." Udina turns to Anderson and Nihlus. "I would like you both to come with me to the Human Embassy. I hate to say it, but with your past history with Saren its probably best you stay with me Anderson. With Nihlus's Spectre status and your connections, I can use gather more resources to sift through the chaos. If you will allow it?"

Nihlus nods. "Whatever I can do to help Ambassador. Jane and John have already impressed me enough for one day anyways." He says with a solemn nod to the twins.

"And all you need to do is ask. What else do you need?" Anderson asks.

"Someone to do the legwork." Udina turns to Jane and John. "That what I need from you both. While we help the Council deal with the politics of this, you need to find proof that Saren is behind all this. Track down how he hired these men, and bring me evidence to give to the council. We don't need much evidence of his attack on Eden Prime, thanks to Nihlus being a witness, but anything else can only help."

"Understood." John trades a glance with Jane, trading thoughts for a moment before Jane nods. John turns to Udina. "What are some good spots to get the information we need?"

"Chora's Den is a good start. If ever there was a wretched hive of scum, that would be the place." Udina muses. "If there is anyone who know's about the bounty, they'll be drinking there."

"He's right." Garrus agrees. "I can't remember how many times a suspect I was looking for decided to hide out in that place."

"Indeed. Another good bet is to hit the streets. I don't like saying it, but the bounty on you is still in effect. If you were to make a ruse to the effect of being captured..."

Jane smiles a dark smile. "I like the way you think ambassador."

"Glad to see it." Udina says with a grim smile. "And finally, look for Barla Von." He gives Wrex a quick look. "I assume you know him?"

"I do." Wrex said calmly. "He was the one who gave me this assignment."

"Which means he probably knows something about the connection between the attack and Saren." John says with a look of careful thought. "Okay then. Its a start at least."

"Decide how you want to handle it. The pair of you are in command." Anderson smirks. "I know its useless to try and put one of you over the other." The twins share a grin, knowing full well their reputation for refusing to accept command over each other. Jane may be higher ranked, but they will always refuse to be anything but partners. "Get this done Commander's."

"Sir." They turn to the rest of their group as Udina walks away with Anderson and Nihlus in tow. "How do you want to do this Jane?"

"Split up?" She suggests, looking over the group in front of her. "Me and you lead each team, back each other up that way?"

"Right." John nods. "What do you guys think?"

"Fine with me. As long as we end up taking down Saren." Ashley says with a grin.

"I can deal with it. You both fight well, so I probably won't be bored." Wrex smiles darkly, crossing his arms over his barrel-like chest.

"Who will go with who though?" Garrus asks with a cock of his head.

"Thats pretty easy. Wrex, you'll go with whoever has to deal with Barla Von. Garrus, you have Chora's Den. Ashley, you're with me, I need someone good with weapons." Jane says quickly.

"You're expecting a fight?" Kaidan says inquisitively.

"Constant Vigilance." John answers for Jane, sharing a knowing grin with her. "You're with me Kaidan. We'll check on the Shadow Broker's man. That good with you Jane?"

"Sure. Come Shakira, lets go clubbing." She sings out as she smacks Garrus on the shoulder playfully.

As they walk away, Garrus rubs the back of his head in confusion. "Who is Shakira?"

"You are, cause your hips don't lie." Jane replies.

"... Thank you?"

John shakes his head, turning to gaze at Wrex and Kaidan. "Come on. Lets see if we can cause some trouble."

* * *

Jane, Garrus, and Ashley step out of their cab. Jane turns to watch as it flies off, shaking her head slowly. "How is it that transports on the Citadel are amazingly fast, but the elevators take for freaking ever?"

Garrus chuckled. "I hear its cause the Asari designed them. With thousands of years to live, why worry about a few extra minutes."

"Salarians must have made the traffic cabs." Ashley says with a chuckle.

Jane shakes her head. "Stay focused people. We need to get our info as soon as possible." She looks around the words, a note of familiarity filling her. Dark, with crappy electrical lights everywhere, packed full of people. Just like the streets she was raised. The old instincts kick in, and she becomes a bit more hostile, more ready for a fight. Ashley picks up on this, and starts to stiffen, hands clenching and unclenching as they walk. Garrus seems calm, but his eyes narrow, and his gait becomes softer, more ready to change position.

When they enter the hallway to Chora's Den, a square chamber with pathways along the wall the lead to a door framed with light in the shape of strippers, they're ready for the five men the start shooting at them. Garrus and Ashley duck back into the hallway outside, taking position on either side of the doorway, while Jane takes cover behind the fence keeping people from falling to their death in a small hole in the middle of the pathway. Jane activates her comm.

"Ashley, Garrus, suppressing fire! Keep them from using the side walkways to get close! Garrus, keep an eye on any shield users and shut them down!"

"What about you!?" Garrus cried as bullets slammed into the walls around them. His eyes widened when he saw the dark smile stretching across her face.

"I'm going to show them what happens when Bruce Lee walks into a bar." With that declaration, She goes right, keeping her head down as she crouch-walks along the fence. Garrus and Ashley look at each other, their faces grim for a moment.

"Ready?" Ashley says.

"Ready." Garrus responds.

The pair of long range specialist pop from cover and unleash bullets. Garrus focuses on the left walkway, forcing a pair of human mercenaries to duck back before they can advance. One of the mercs snarl in rage. "Damn it! She's got C-Sec!"

"Just shoot the bast-" The offending merc yelps when a small rocket slams into his chest, sending him flying while Ashley grins.

"She's also got N7."

"Nice shot." Garrus tells her as he sends another burst of fire, forcing back another merc. Unlike the earlier ones, these are dressed in widely diverging armor styles, marking them as freelancers. Two humans, a turian, a salarian, and a vorcha. The vorcha tries to go right, his teeth bared as he crawls on the floor behind the waist high cover. When he reaches the corner, the reptilian creature takes a breath and spins around cover.

For a moment he and Jane stare at each other, startled. Jane smiles happily. "Hello..." She sings out. The vorcha snarls and raises his pistol to aim.

Jane gives him enough time to raise his arm up. Then she lashes out, stabbing an omni-blade into his wrist. The vorcha screams, then finds himself gurgling when Jane slams her second blade into his throat. Not giving him time to heal, she pulls her shotgun out and pushes it into his face. She doesn't have training in using it, but no one needs to practice to aim at a target only inches away from the barrel.

As the vorcha falls back, headless, Jane spins out of cover and sprints directly for the other four mercs. The enemy turian blinks and rise up, his assault rifle rising up. Jane steps into his arms and places her omni-blades on either side of his neck. Her arms fly outwards, red hot blades chopping through the turian man's neck. The tall aliens headless body stumbles to its knees as Jane looks up at the other mercs, blood spray in a diagonal slash across her face as she gives them a manic smile. The other mercs panic, rising from cover with weapons raised.

This is a mistake. Garrus and Ashley take their chance, focusing their fire on one of the human mercs. The man only has time to score a solid hit on Jane, hitting her in the waist, before he drops. Jane, shields gone and in line of sight with the last two mercs, activates her barrier, its bright purple glow projecting in time to block the next barrage of bullets. The salarian merc prepares to send an overload, only to scream when his gun explodes from a disrupt sent by Garrus. Jane takes her chance, slamming a kick into the salarians legs and droping him to his knees. She gets behind him, wraps her hands around his chin and one of his head tendrils, and wrenches his head, snapping his neck.

"I'll destroy you!" The final merc rages his face twisted in anger. A burst of gunfire follows as Jane stares at him, her head cocked. The merc looks down at his chest, and looks back up. "D-Damnit." He falls to the ground with several bullet holes in his chest.

"Thanks Ash."

"No problem Commander." She says as she walks up alongside Garrus, putting her gun away. The turian cop looks down at the bodies and kicks them over.

"Freelancer mercs. Which means anyone with a gun whose worth a damn has heard about the bounty."

"More fun for us." Jane chirped as the doors to Chora's Den slide open to let them in. "Come on. Lets go investigating."

* * *

Authors Note: I'm going to cut it there, because the next chapter is going to enormous as it is. If you guys liked it, let me know. I've been taking more intense writing lessons, and knowing what worked for just motivates me to write faster. Anyways, sorry about the long wait, and I hope you guys enjoyed it :)


	6. Chapter 6

As they step into the nightclub, Jane carefully activates a little known application in her suits hardware. Called the neural comm, it allowed communication between people using a less intense version of the Drift. Originally, it was meant to be the next step in communications technology. Unfortuanetly there were problems. The link required intense focus to maintain, meaning not everyone could use it. Even for military use it was too finicky, requiring calm focus to articulate thoughts into words across the link, an impossibility on the battle field. Even Jane was prepared to dismiss it when she found it in Alliance Archives, until John convinced her otherwise.

"_What if you're running an op in a more peaceful setting, and you want to be able to speak with no one on the other side noticing? This might be impossible to use for general military use, but you never know when you need a private way to talk to someone."_

She takes a moment to thank John, waiting as the link reconfigured Ashley's suit software. Garrus looks startled when his suit sent him a warning about an intrusion, instinctively moving to wall out the program until Jane grabbed his hand in warning. As he gives her a startled glance, the program initiated. Jane forces back the initial confusion of two other minds against hers, ordering her thoughts quickly as the club doors opened.

"_Uplink activated. This is Jane. You guys hearing me?" _She says softly, her mind stretching to the others. After a moment, she got a nervous response.

"_Uh, hey... I'm not crazy right?" _Garrus replies nervously. _"Because the hearing voices thing-"_

"_I'm going to punch you in the arm." _Jane taps Garrus playfully on the shoulder, smiling at the annoyed look he gives her. _"Good enough?"_

"_Good enough for me." _Ashley answers in their minds. _"Is this the drift?"_

"_Close. It'll work for now. Ashley, take the right, Garrus, the left. I'll head to the bar." _Jane tells them as they move inside. _"Clear?"_

"_Clear." _The pair of snipers answer as they take positions. Ashley moves to a table and calls a waiter over for a drink, while Garrus leans against a wall where he can get a good view of the area. Jane walks to the bar and gives the Asari bartender a winning smile.

"Whats good tonight?"

* * *

John smiles as he watches the taxi cab that had carried his team to the Presidium fly off. "Way better than the elevators." He turns to Wrex and Kaiden. "You guys know your way around here?"

Wrex shakes his head. "Krogans don't get to visit the Presidium much. Too much risk of bullets flying."

"And this is my first time on the Citadel." Kaiden sighs. "I'd suggest the human embassy, but..."

It seemed like the C-Sec attack had more of an effect then they expected. The place was almost empty, save for a stubborn few. Every embassy was shut down, and John could see a couple of people arguing with an asari VI. The Presidium itself was beautiful. A river of crisp clean water ran by, with bridges connecting each side of the river. Almost everyone wore fancy clothes, most of them worth more then the armor John was wearing. All in all, the picture of elegance.

Which was why the sight of someone being thrown out of the Turian embassy stood out. A tall turian lifted a small figure bodily and launched her out into the main pathway. "Get out of here you damn suit rat!" He yelled, his face the picture of annoyance. "I don't have time to deal with you! Go to the Wards, find someone who will treat a damn quarian!"

The quarian in question pushed herself up weakly. She was a tiny little thing, dressed in the ornate suits quarians were known for. Her face was blocked by a purple face mask, and she glared angrily at the turian clerk. "Bosh'tet! I just need help!"

"Find it somewhere else!" He snaps, turning around to reenter the building. The young quarians body language screams anger, before she finally settels herself down a bit. She sighs sadly, and carefully pushes herself up. When she pushes against the ground, she gasps in pain, almost falling. Suddenly a pair of powerful arms wrap around her waist and pull her to her feet, taking her to a seat nearby.

"Who-?" She turns her head to see John, his face impassive as he hold his anger towards the bigoted clerk in. He gently puts her in the seat and smiles.

"Relax for a bit okay? Whats your name?"

She stares at him. As Wrex and Kaidan come forward, two dark purple spots started appearing behind her mask, just below her eyes. John gives her worried look as the she seems to get nervous, staring at him.

"Are you sure you're okay? Kaidan can you take care of her?"

"N-No, that isn't-" Kaidan ignores her, checking her over slowly as John moves out of the way. His eyes widen in shock when he realizes whats wrong.

"You were shot!?"

John snaps his head towards Kaidan, then to the quarian. "How the hell did you get shot!? Were you at C-Sec during the attack?" He hadn't seen her there, and quarians tended to stand out.

"I... have some information people want. I don't know if I can tell you more." She says nervously, looking from Kaidan, to John, to Wrex. "I just need to get to a clinic."

"Well we can help you a bit." Kaidan says kindly, his omni-tool lighting up. "I can at least give you enough medi-gel to help you get on your way."

She gives him a startled look. "You don't have to do that! I-"

John puts his hand on her shoulder, smiling as she turns to him. "We don't have too. But its not a big deal. Just make sure you get to a doctor in time, okay?"

She seems to be smiling behind her mask, nodding slowly. "Thank you."

"Waste of time if you ask me." Wrex grumbles. "One quick elevator ride and she could have gotten to a clinic. Don't need to help her." In complete disregard for his own words, he continues with, "Just take that elevator." He points it out. "It'll take you to the Upper Wards. From there its a quick walk to the clinic."

John chuckles as he gives the young woman a smile. "Well, you heard the man. You going to be okay?"

"Yes. Thank you for your kindness." She gets up, breathing a bit easier now. "I'll be able to get there on my own." She nods her head, her voice a bit happier now. "Keelah se'lai." She stops, turning flustered again. "Um, that means-"

"By the home world I hope to see one day, roughly." John answers. He shrugs at the starled look she gives him. "I took a seminar on quarian culture. Its one of the things I remember. Anyways, you better go on your way."

"R-Right. Thank you again."

John watches as she hobbles off, turning away once she's gone. He blinks when he sees Kaidan giving him a weird look. "What?"

Kaidan shrugs. "Just seemed to spend a long time watching her go."

"... I'm not following."

"I'll admit, those hips don't lie."

"... You know, I'm starting to realize I have a team made up of smartasses."

* * *

When John, Kaidan, and Wrex enter Barla Von's office, the short alien takes a moment to hang up from a call. He looks up, cocking his head slightly. "Wrex?"

"Barla." The lumbering reptile replies with a nod.

"Well this is rather unexpected. And you've brought your charge." He says as he turns to Shepard. Like most Volus, his voice sounds like someone who sounds trouble breathing, very nasally. Despite that, he carries himself rather calmly, taking his time to decide what he will say next. "Well I admire you're initiative, but I already put faith in you to complete your mission. Your reputation speaks for itself."

"This isn't about that actually." John interrupts.

"Oh?" Barla says inquisitively. "Very well then. What is it you need?"

"Information. On the attack on C-Sec headquarters."

Barla seems to deflate at that. "Ah. Well you're not the first person to ask me about that." He lets out a dejected sigh. "I'll be honest, I have almost nothing on that. Every bounty hunter, merc group, and black market group out there had the message sent to them. Many of our own people would be after you and the rest of your crew right now if it wasn't for the Shadow Broker."

John frowns. "Why does the Shadow Broker care about our safety?"

"He doesn't." Barla answers frankly. "But you and he share a common enemy."

"Saren." Kaidan says softly, sharing a glance with John.

"Indeed. It seems our little Spectre made the mistake of trying to cheat the Shadow Broker. And with your recent efforts to discredit him, its in the Shadow Broker's best interests for you to live."

"I can understand enemy of my enemy is my friend." John said slowly. "But why does discrediting Saren help so much?"

Barla leaned back, surprised. "You really don't understand what a Spectre is, do you? With those resources, Saren could take on anyone he wishes. He's amassed a large amount of wealth, and his Spectre status gives him access to some of the best weapons and equipment anyone can buy. All of which goes to anyone willing to help him. Removing that status would go a long way towards making him vulnerable."

"So we're his attack dogs." John shakes his head in amusement. "I guess I can live with that. I just need some leads. Do you have anything on Saren? Anything useful?"

"As a matter of fact, I do." Barla taps a button on his desk, pulling up a screen with the picture of someone on it. John immediately feels a part of his mind shatter into sheer disbelief at the sight. "Recently someone managed to track me down with some intriguing details. Some audio clips marking Saren as the one responsible for the attack on Eden Prime, and the address of the original poster for the hit on you and your crew. She was injured, so I directed her to get treatment from the Turian Embassy. Tali Zorah, a quarian."

John sighs sadly as he stares at the photo of the girl from mere moments ago.

"If you want information on Saren, she'll be your best bet."

* * *

Jane gulps down her drink, the feel of strong batarian ale burning down her throat and warming her belly making her smile as she places her shot glass down. At first, people seemed to stare at her in suspicion. A well-armed Allaince Marine, and obvious N8 graduate at that, entering a bar with another marine and a C-Sec officer had put many people off. But people were starting to calm down, what with Ashley and Jane drinking peacefully as Garrus calmly leans against a wall, seemingly listening to the music.

In truth, they were keeping a constant contact with each other through their neural link. Garrus had long since noted a former officer, a man named Harkin who he noticed was a sleezebag. This was obvious considering the leer on the ugly mans face as he openly gazed at the strippers around them. Ashley kept watch on the entrance to the back rooms, where a krogan bodyguard had been watching them from. Jane had managed to overhear from the bartenders that the owner to the establishment, a man named Fist, had apparently left on important business. Coincidentally leaving his office empty. Jane was slowly putting together a plan. After a moment of silence, she finally spoke over the link.

"_Okay." _She 'says' softly. _"Here's the plan. Garrus, talk to Harkin. Get whatever he's seen the past day out of him. Merc groups meeting, suspicious behavior, anything. I'll sneak into the office. Ashley," _A nearby volus shudders at the dark smile on Jane's face. _"You ever get banned from a club before?"_

The volus nervously raises his hand up when he catches a glimpse of Ashley's wide grin. "Check please!"

* * *

When Garrus walks up to Harkin, he takes a good look at the man before him. A small hint of disgust crosses Garrus' face as he sees the smudged C-Sec blue shirt the man was wearing, now covered with splotches of alcohol. "Damn Harkin. You were always a slob. But this is a whole 'nother level."

The balding man looks up at Garrus with drunken eyes. He groans as Garrus sits down at the table with him. "Damnit, what do you want Garrus? Are you trying rub it in, is that whats happening?"

"In order for that to happen, I would have to actually give a damn about you." Garrus smirks at the glare Harkin shoots him. "Relax Harkin. I just want to ask some questions."

"You mean involving the bounty on those two little sluts you brought in?" Harkin smirks. "You got a quad Vakarian. Escorting two people every killer on the station is hunting for."

"I'm not really an escort. More of a... mediator."

Harkin frowns. "What the hell does that mean?"

Instead of answering, Garrus nods behind him. Harkin turns to see Ashley Williams walking up to a krogan with more confidence than most would have while approaching a bipedal dinosaur. She moves to walk past him, startling the krogan for a moment. He quickly moves in front of her, raising his hands up. "Stop right-"

Thats all he can get out. As soon as she's close enough, Ashley rears her fist back. Small tubs pop out of the elbow of her armor, lighting up with fire. Based on the rocket punch ability given to most Jaegers, this scaled down version allowed a normal human to punch with forces usually seen in car crashes. With Ashley's added muscle, the black-colored guard had the unfortunate experience of having a fist slam into his chest at highway speeds. He gets sent flying into the wall behind him, slamming into it like a ragdoll as his eyes bulge. His eyes close as he passes out.

A human guard disguised as a patron snaps up, taking a pistol out as he prepares to kill Ashley. Before he can get his sights on her, a bottle of asari honey mead slams into his head. As the thick bottle falls to the ground unbroken, Jane smiles from the bar, her body in a pitchers throw as the rest of the bar gapes at her and Ashley. "Sorry. Thought you could use a drink."

The human guard roars as he gets ready to shoot, only to have his gun explode from a sabotage. He screams at the sight of his bleeding fingers and palm, looking up at Jane just in time for her fist to slam into his face.

As Ashley and Jane high-five before turning to enter Fists office, Harkin feels a nervous sweat soaking his body. A glass tinkling behind him startles him, his movements frantic as he spins around. Garrus chuckles at the man's shock, lifting his drink up for a sip. When he puts his drink down, his smile turns a bit cold.

"So tell me Harkin. If you had a choice between a unfriendly former co-worker, and a pair of psychopaths. Who would you rather talk to?"

With perfect timing, Jane and Ashley turn to grin at Harkin, twin smiles of insane glee stretched across their faces. Harkin turns back around to Garrus.

"So everything was pretty normal this morning, until we started hearing about the Shepards, a quarian girl, and Eden Prime..."

* * *

Ashley and Jane walk through a small warehouse, coming into a office. Its at this point that a pair of turrets pop out of the floor, spin around, and begin laying fire towards them. Jane leaps back into cover, wincing at the sound of bullets smashing through her cover.

"Its good to see people who take security seriously." She say with a grin to Ashley. The brunette smirks back, bringing out her custom assault rifle.

"Order's ma'am?"

"I'll hack one of the turrets and remove the shields from the other. You take them down every time I set them up."

Ashley nods in approval. With no other distractions, the pair of turrets are annihilated. Ignoring the two newly twisted piles of metal, Jane begins looking around the room, hacking the computer. After a moment of searching through files, Jane finally finds what she needs. She turns to Ashley, a small smirk on her face as she sends her the data.

"Look at this. Its not a post, but a personal message. Straight to Fist, from-"

"Saren." Ashley's eyes narrow at his name. "How did you get this?"

"Part of his blackmail file. Every wanna-be mafioso has a list of people they prepare leverage against. With this, we have evidence that Saren was trying to have us killed."

Despite this news, Ashley shakes her head slowly. "Won't work. This is just a name on a letter. Someone could type this up in five minutes."

Janes good mood evaporates, and her shoulders fall. "Right. Guess we need more than just this." Still determined, she focuses on hacking the computer with greater urgency, fingers flying across her omni-tool. Just when Ashley is about to walk out to the bar to find some way to cure her boredom, Jane's eyes widen. The next thing Ashley knows, Jane is grabbing her by the arm and pulling her out the door.

"What the hell!? What's going on!?"

"Fist's most recent message was about two Normandy crew walking around the Presidium. Who does that sound like to you?"

Ashley pales, then sets her face grimly. When the two woman pop out into the main club, Garrus is waiting for them with a smile.

"Hey. I-" He stops at the look on their faces, his smile fading away. "Whats wrong?"

"We need to get to the Presidium. Fist is going after John's team."

Garrus doesn't question it. The group of three hop into a cab and take off for the Presidium. As the car flies off, Garrus turns to them. "I know this isn't a good time, but I need to tell you what Harkin told me."

"Can't this wait?" Jane snaps, going through her armor and tech powers as the car glides through the air.

"No, it can't." At the urgency in his voice, Jane turns to look at Garrus. The young turian sighs sadly. "I think I have an idea of what Saren's plans are. And we need to get ready for the next stage." He raises his arm up and taps his omni-tool. Soon, Harkin's voice fills the small cab, and Jane's eyes widen noticeably.

"Oh no."

* * *

The first thing that clues John in on the attack is the silence. Even compared to before, the Presidium is eeriely quiet. The second that clues him in is the gunshot that suddenly echoes through the air. Its only thanks to good luck that Wrex is right next to him, allowing the krogan to get in front of the sniper round. Wrex's barrier lights up, and he growls as various mercs rise up.

"Get down!" As John and Kaiden duck into cover, a pair of mercs with missile launchers take aim at Wrex. John takes a shot at them, scaring them back into cover long enough to allow Wrex to get behind a wall. The missile launchers pop back out, sending a score of rockets towards their cover. John takes a look at Wrex, smiling a bit.

"It was getting a bit boring anyways."

Wrex laughs, his voice tinged with an insane blood lust as he flips out of cover to send bullets flying across the Presidium river. John lifts his head out of cover, taking stock of the situation. He drops back down and turns on his com-link.

"Sixteen soldiers. Not a very varied bunch though. Mostly human, with a krogan and a turian backing them up. One person in charge. He's in the back, leading them." If a person who was mostly yelling 'Kill them all!' at the top of his lungs could be called a leader.

"Sixteen's kind of a crazy number to fight Commander." Kaidan says reasonably.

"Well if you don't like our odds," Wrex says reasonably. He leans his head out and raises a arm cloaked in biotic power. A merc carrying the sniper rifle that had tried to kill John earlier is lifted into the air, screaming as gravity loses its grip on him. He stops screaming when Wrex hits him in the head with two blasts from his shotgun. Wrex turns to Kaiden and smiles. "How about fifteen to three?"

"Better." Chuckles Kaidan. "Orders sir?"

"Thin the crowd. Focus on the missiles launchers. When the Krogan comes charging in, let me handle it." John says as confidently as if he wasn't planning to go toe-to-toe with the closest thing to a sentient dinosaur.

"You sure?" Wrex grumbles.

"I can handle it. Just keep their leader alive. I want to question him. Clear?"

"Clear." Kaidan says. Wrex just smiles and cracks his neck.

"Lets crack some heads."

John rise up from cover and sends a grenade spinning towards a group of mercs hiding behind a wall. They duck away from it, exposing themselves to his pistol. He manages to down one one of them, leaving another for Kaidan. Wrex takes his assault rifle and aims at the missile launchers, ignoring the various bullets bouncing off his barriers in favor of the rockets users. One, an Asian man in red armor, raises his launcher up, gritting his teeth as he aims at Wrex, an easy target if there ever was one. He pushes down on the trigger, ready to see the burst of flame from his muzzle before a rocket flies off. A shock goes through him when the launcher refuses to respond. He tries again and again, pressing frantically while the launcher refuses to respond. This proves fatal, as Wrex takes a shot at the exposed man, ripping his shields apart under a hail bullets before gunning him down. As Wrex springs back into cover, he nods to Kaidan.

"Thanks."

The Canadian-born soldier nods back with a smile, lowering his hand down as his omni-tool shuts down the program he'd been using to hack the rockets electronics. "No problem. Next rocketeer."

This time, they employ biotics rather than tech. Kaidan lifts the other rocketeer in a biotic field. Its possible the man could survive the sudden loss of weight. What he couldn't survive was the warp thrown by Wrex. The man screams as he is broken down at the molecular level, then screams some more when the field around him goes off like a grenade, sending three other men flying.

The three men are killed on the ground by several pistol rounds from Shepard, who sighs grimly at the necessity of killing them while they can't fight back. He has no time to deal with the moral quandary. A sniper round skids off his cover, forcing him down. He takes a breath, rising up to gaze around. Across the river, he can see the turian merc ducking back into cover with professional movements. John takes a moment to wonder who the man is. Turian mercs are rare, and highly ostracized in turian society due to the fact that they don't live the same 'society before self' lifestyle that turians so admire. He shakes his head, cutting off his thoughts before rising up and sending a shockwave.

The biotic power pulses across the river, slamming into a group of mercs in cover. They are sent like ragdolls in every direction, limbs flailing until the smash into walls. One man manages to stumble to his feet long enough to feel a shotgun blast rip into his torso. The rest scramble back into cover. John growls when he sees the man leading them falter.

Even from this great distance, John can see the man's face pale. The man turns and snaps some orders before running off with a group of four men, leaving the turian, the krogan, and two men behind. John ducks his head back down.

"Looks like their fearless leader ran off." He says disapprovingly. "And he took half his guys with him."

"Coward." Wrex says, his voice filled with disapproval.

"We need to finish these guys off and get to Miss Zorah. Wrex," Those reptilian eyes turn to him. "Charge."

Wrex smiles like a demon, nodding at Shepard. He leaps out of cover and lets out a primal roar, his voice reverberating through the large space. A krogan is capable of incredible speed over short distances, with armor that allows them to withstand almost anything. And Wrex proves to be no different. His fet shake the ground as he blazes forward, shotgun in hand.

The two human mercs pale at the sight of the scarred monster running for them. Their krogan ally roars back, sweeping them aside as he charges at Wrex. For a moment it seems like the two behemoths are going to clash in the center of the bridge joining the two sides of the Presidium. Just when the enemy krogan can smell Wrex's breath, Wrex does the impossible.

He pirouettes. His large bulk spins around the other krogan, gracefully getting around to his back. As Wrex is side by side with the other krogan, he smirks.

"Wrong opponent."

Before the krogan merc can wonder what he means, a biotic fist slams into his face. The krogan goes feet over hump, sliding along the floor until he manages to roll to a stop. He rises up quickly, glaring at John, whose fist is still glowing. The Alliance soldier grins as he relaxes his fist. "A lot bigger up close." He notes. The krogan roars in his face. John shakes his head, unimpressed. "I've fought Kaiju. You're going to have to try harder."

The krogan is happy to oblige. He rushes John, looking to run him over. Shepard ducks aside, letting his opponent slam into the wall behind. John raises his shotgun and shoots twice, collapsing his opponents shields. He goes for another shot, only to wince when his gun's meter shows that it overheating. With no time to switch, John throws his gun aside.

As the krogan turns to look at him with wide eyes, John slips into a fighting stance. He raises his hands up, one curled into a fist, the other a palm. His right foot faces his opponent, his left balancing him.

The krogan chuckles at the seemingly suicidal move. A human trying to take half ton of muscle wrapped in natural armor with regenerative powers. Deciding once again to oblige him, the krogan puts away his shotgun away. He steps forward, swinging his arm around to try to take John's head off.

John's eyes narrow. Years of training to fight against opponents run through his mind. First, in an age of kinetic barriers, a fighter has to be able to control speed with absolute precision. Slow enough to avoid triggering a barrier, fast enough to be a threat. Shepard steps forward and to the side, just dodging the enormous fist. His hands almost gently rise up. Once his forward hand is past the krogan's barrier, he slams it into the soft bulbous part of its throat. The krogans eyes widen as his airway is forced shut, choking him. John's foot slips behind the larger being's legs as he pushes him off-center. The krogan falls like a great tree, slamming into the ground. John follows up with a biotic fist, breaking the barrier around his opponent. With the path cleared, his hands glow with biotic power. He straddles the alien, smashing an elbow into his throat. With one final blow, John's hand slams into the krogan's head plate like an axe. The bony plate cracks inward, a splash of blood spurting up his face.

For a moment, the krogan jumps and twists as his destroyed brain continues to try to send signals. He finally lies still, drawing a sigh of relief from John.

Then John gets up, pulls the shotgun off the krogans body, and shoots him three times. "Always make sure."

Meanwhile, Wrex and Kaidan have been busy. Kaidan, being a bit more sensible (read: sane) then the others, choose to follow Wrex cautiously, using the distraction provided by his new friend to keep hidden. As Wrex charges for the two human mercs, Kaidan keeps watch. Sure enough, the turian merc pops out of cover, sniper rifle aiming towards Wrex. Kaidan reacts quickly, sending a biotic throw at the man. The turian stumbles back, but his shields hold up enough to let him jump back into cover.

Still, its enough to allow Wrex to get to the other mercs. One of them manages to duck aside, screaming. The other is less lucky. Wrex slams into him with a loud boom, bones shattering under his weight as the unfortuante man is sent flying. He laughs, spreading his arms wide and roaring. The last human merc gets to his knees and starts shooting, only to pale when Kaidan pops his shields. He has enough time to sigh sadly before a Kaidan shoots him in the head.

Seeing the odds against him, the turian merc makes a run for it. He barely takes two steps when a pair of biotic pulls lift him off the ground. Wrex walks up slowly, stopping front of the scared turian to smile at him grimly. Then he grabs the dextro by his ankle and slams into the ground. He lifts him up and slams him the other direction, cratering the earth. When Wrex lift the man back up, he growls at the sight of the turian still breathing a bit. With a roar he slams him again and again, like a child having a tantrum, before finally leaving him on the ground. Wrex smiles grimly as he joins a wide-eyed Kaidan.

"Puny turian."

"Come on." John says grimly as he joins them. "We need to go after Miss Zorah."

Kaidan and Wrex nod, running after him.

They never see the cab that pulls into the Presidium as they leave.

* * *

Author's Note: Well, there's another chapter. Here's hoping the two teams can get to Tali before she ends up kidnapped. And what about the information Garrus got from Harkin?

Anyways, there's another chapter, and another few weeks of me writing while hoping I can one day reach a coveted spot on tvtropes Mass Effect fanfic recs. Thanks for reading :)


	7. Chapter 7

Tali was having a bad pilgrimage. She had figured from the start that things would be bad. After all, the daughter of an Admiral had to prove herself to the fullest on her first pilgrimage. But if you had told her some rogue Spectre would end up trying to kill her, she would have sat you down and tried to talk you through your apparent mental illness (Tali just doesn't have it in her to laugh at someone suffering from insanity).

But thats what happened. What seems like years ago, she and a fellow crewmember of the ship _Honorata_, a male quarian named Keenah'Breizh, had decided to investigate a geth presence on a unnamed ice planet on their way to Earth, where she had decided to make her pilgrimage. After extracting a geth memory core detailing the events of an attack on a human colony, they diverted to Ilium to try and give the information to its authorities. It hadn't ended well.

Now, she's on the Citadel after a long journey. Keenah'Breizh is dead, killed by the turian mercenary Jacobus. Jacobus himself was incinerated, a fate he deserved a dozen times over. Still, even with her pursuers dead, Tali found herself frustrated by the blind prejudice of every person she'd met so far. Well, all except three.

The krogan, so tall and intimidating, but kind all the same. The smiling human soldier who had lent her some medi-gel. Doctor Michel, who had healed her free of charge. The volus info broker who had been the first to listen to her. And of course, the other human soldier. The one with the bright blue eyes. Of course, as soon as any of them came close, all she could do was worry about if they had showered recently, considering her suits broken filter. Of course, that lead to her picturing them naked, and then...

Tali shakes her head, blushing furiously under her mask. Still, with all that had happened, those five gave a bit of hope to her. Maybe her mission would finally be finished?

As she stands in an empty hallway, awaiting the appearance of the Shadow Broker, she sings her favorite song from _Fleet and Flotilla _to herself, her soft voice echoing off the white walls around her as thinks back to simpler days.

"Let the moons shining light hide two lovers with its rays. Though I know that dawn will set us on a course for separate ways. I will hold this night in memory for all my living days..."

* * *

"You know, you don't fight like your sister." Kaidan tells Shepard. The three of them are standing in the slow elevator, waiting patiently to get to the next floor. Shepard turns to look at Kaidan, sparing a glance to Wrex.

"What do you mean?"

"Its something I notice. When you fight together, its like poetry in motion. You fight like something out of a vid. But when you guys separate..." Kaidan shrugs. "I don't know. Its like she enjoys it more? She just seems a bit bloodthirsty. Like Xena from that show way back when."

Wrex chuckles, his voice booming in the small space as they turn to him. "Nothing wrong with that. A good fight is something special. Its even better when its fought for a good reason."

"Agreed." John says with a grin, turning to Kaidan. "I do like a good fight. I just hide it better. I don't like killing for no reason though. At some point, it just becomes murder. There has to be a line somewhere, you know?"

Kaidan nods, then blinks. "Wait? What about Jane then?"

"Jane? Yeah, she really like beating things to a pulp. She won't kill for no reason, but its easier for her to _find _a reason."

Kaidan doesn't seem to worry about that to much. If anything, he looks intrigued. Before John can wonder why, the elevator stops on their floor, allowing them spill out onto the ward. They walk past vendors and shoppers, making their way to the clinic Wrex had pointed Tali to. A sudden gunshot splits the air, and the sound of biotics being discharged can be heard from the direction of the clinic. Fearing the worst, John pulls out his gun.

"Barriers up!" The trio activate the purple fields of armor, all three glowing as they do a dead run to the clinic. John presses up to the wall next to the door, coming up to poke his head in.

The clinic is rather clean, with a small operating table and a well built med-dispenser. It might have been orderly once, but recent events have obviously turned it into a small warzone, leaving torn medical supplies and table strewn across the floor, and bullet holes on every wall next to streaks of black.

The occupants are no better. Three men, a turian and two batarians in rather advanced suits of armor face off against their opponents, the turian in front holding onto a quivering woman wearing a doctors clothes. Its plain from the gun he holds to her head that she is a hostage.

Across from them are a salarian man and a asari. The salarian is gray-skinned wearing yellow and white armor, slim like all his species. He carries himself with confidence, and has a rather advanced pistol in hand as he narrows his eyes at the hostage-takers. The asari is a dark blue with purple markings painted on her face, giving her a rather exotic look. She carries no weapons, her fists glowing with bright blue biotic power, and a snarl mars her beautiful face.

"Let. Her. Go." She says slowly, her entire body quivering with rage.

"We don't care about you." The salarian says softly, hands tightening around his gun. "We just want the doctor."

"Well maybe you should blame her." The turian squeezes her, drawing a gasp of pain from her. "She's the one whose been dealing with dangerous people. The kind that call us in to handle business."

"Maybe you should look into a new line of work." The asari says dismissively. Her eyes widen at something, just barely, before she carefully looks back at the doctor. The salarian man is less emotional.

"Don't worry doctor. You're going to be safe."

"Now you're talking." The leader says smugly. "Now, what we want is-"

"I'm sorry." The asari says with a smirk. "What makes you think you have any say in the matter?" When the merc give her a confused look, she nods behind him.

The turian and his group spin their heads around. John smiles as he holds his shotgun to the turians head, mere inches away. Kaidan has a smirk on his face as biotic power glows around him, and Wrex smiles like a demon as he chuckles gruffly.

"Hi." John says.

The turian gets ready to pull the trigger. He's too late as pellets turns his brains into so much pulpy mush. Wrex takes a more direct approach, slamming his head into the batarian across from him. Steel-hard natural armor meets batarian flesh, and sends the smaller alien flying.

Kaidan isn't quite as fast as the others, allowing his batarian time to speak. The four-eyed man stares stunned, as Shepard turns to look at him. He seems filled with fear as Kaidan raises his pistol up.

"The Butcher of Torfan."

Kaidan shoots him in the head, leaving the batarian to flop uselessly to the ground. He cocks his head confusion, turning to look at Shepard. "What was that? That thing he said at the end there?"

John doesn't answer, giving the batarians body a sad look before kneeling down to help the doctor up. "You okay Doc?"

"Yes, just a bit shaken is all." The doctor in question is a brown haired woman, her hair cut short into a bob. John notes her french accent, a rarity in a galaxy of constant traveling. She smiles at John's team. "Thank you for the help." She turns to the salarian and asari with a wide smile. "And you as well Jondum. If you and your friend hadn't come by, I would have been dead long before this rescue."

"Of course Chloe. I only wish we could have come sooner." The salarian smiles as he puts away his weapon, walking up to Shepard with a hand extended. "Jondum Bao, Special Tactics and Recon. This is my associate Tela Vasir."

The asari nods at them. She doesn't seem as friendly as her companion, though the biotic glow around her fists fades as she pans her eyes across John and his team. John eyes her, then shakes Jondum's hand, smiling at him.

"John Shepard, Alliance Navy. Good to meet you. What's a Spectre doing here anyways?"

"Same as you. Investigating the chaos that has enveloped this station. The past few hours, every Spectre on the station has been fighting off mercs alongside C-Sec, eradicating their presence. Its become a madhouse." Jondum sighs, rubbing his forehead. "All I had to deal with this morning was writing a report on a thief I've been chasing. I was even having fun with it. Now I have to deal with a war."

"We all have our issues." Tela steps forward. "Anyways, an informant of mine told me that a quarian with some information that might be useful came here. I called in Jondum to come in with me, thanks to his relationship with Dr. Michel, and came here to find a group of thugs breaking down her door. A little bit later, you three came in." She eyes John, a small smirk stretching her face. "So you're one of the ones who've been causing all this trouble."

John frowns, giving her an even look as he shifts his weight. "Not, we aren't. Having a bounty put on us isn't exactly something we'd choose for ourselves. If it helps, me and my allies are doing whatever we can to end this."

Tela doesn't soften, but she still nods. "Good enough for me."

"What about Tali?" Kaidan asks, a worried look on his face. "Did she say where she was going?"

Dr. Michel nods her head, going up to her medical dispenser. "She was in pretty good condition when she came to me. Something about a pair of handsome humans and an intimidating krogan helping her." She turns to give them a knowing smile. "Your doing?"

"Yeah." John says sheepishly. "We didn't know who she was. Just a young woman who needed help."

"That speaks rather well of your personality." Jondum notes offhandedly.

"But not for your sense of timing." Tela disagrees critically. "You had bigger issues on hand. Without prior knowledge, helping her would just be a waste of time."

"I would agree with you. Except that it turned out to be just what we needed." Jondum smiles at Tela, salarian eyes sparkling brightly. "Old human belief. Karma. All good things come back to you."

Dr. Michel continues as she rummages through her med-dispenser. "After I patched her up, she got a message from a man named Fist, a Shadow Broker agent. He told her he was coming here. For some reason, she refused, and told she would meet the Shadow Broker himself, and no one else. Not mention in a place of her own choosing."

Both Wrex and Tela blink at this, their postures sharing different levels of surprise. "And he agreed?" Wrex says in a slightly awed tone.

"As far as I know, yes. In a back alley in the market place."

Jondum smiles. "I think I know the place. A good spot to fight for those of a slighter build. Plenty of room to keep from getting pinned, available cover, a good choice. Seems this quarian girl has more to her then we thought."

"She'll need it." John turns to Tela and Jondum. "I know this is a bit abrupt, but I could use some help. And we don't know how many forces might be coming. Will you join us?"

"Shouldn't that be the other way around?" Tela says with a bit of arrogance in her tone. She cocks a hip with a smirk. "We're Spectres. We say hop, you say-"

"Which eye." Everyone turns to Wrex. "For the bullet that'll be entering your skull if you even think of ordering me around.."

Tela's face becomes a mask of rage, and she begins to glow with biotic power as she steps towards an unimpressed Wrex. Shepard steps in front of her, turning to give Wrex a look before his voice snaps out. "Enough!"

They stop to look at him, and he continues with firm resolve. "We don't have time to deal with rank. There's a girl out there who could hold the key to stopping this madness, and we need to save her. Now I would love to have your help." He turns to Tela. "So please, come with me and fight alongside me. If you have any issues with my leadership, we can deal with it later. But this girl needs our help."

Tela seems unconvinced. She opens her mouth, only to clam up when Jondum places a hand on her shoulder. She turns to him, softening a bit at the nod her gives her. When she turns back to John, her normal smirk is in full effect.

"Fine. Lets see what you've got Shepard."

Shepard nods, a bit of relief flooding him. "Okay. Lets move. Dr. Michel, we'll be back to check up on you later." He tells the young doctor.

"That's good to hear commander. By the way, you might need these." She hands him some mods built for armor, the symbols on them marking them as medical equipment. "A friend passed them to me. They would be of better use to you."

John nods, smiling at her as he passes them to Kaidan, the only member of their group skilled enough in medicine to know what will work best. He walks out, shoulders set as he leads his team out the door.

"Lets move."

Just then, his omni-tool rings. John doesn't stop moving, turning on his personal comm.

"Neural comm, now." Jane says quickly, her voice tense over the link.

John blinks, but calmly switches on his own copy of the link. A small rush fills him as his mind is joined to Jane over the distance between them.

"_Whats happening?" _He thinks worriedly.

"_Something Garrus found. We have a problem?"_

John's eyes widen slowly as she breaks it down to him, his worry turning into panic as he begins to speed towards Tali. In the end, he only has one response to Jane.

"_Crap."_

* * *

Tali sighs softly in relief as a group of men walk up to her. For a moment it seems like her trails are over. Until she takes notice of their bearing. Ten men, led by a human in red armor with a flattop haircut. Each are stepping towards her with aggresion in every movement, though their leader makes an attempt to be cordial as he steps up to her.

"Tali Zorah? I'm with the Shadow Broker. He sent me to get. I'm Fist."

Tali eyes the hand he offers to her, ignoring it completely after a moment. "Charming name." She takes a moment for her helmet, specifically the way it can hide her eyes. It allows her to scan the room, taking note of how each merc begins to take positions around her. Luckily, the alley ways size and careful placement of various boxes make it impossible to keep her from getting to cover if needed, giving her an edge.

"I was told the Broker would be coming himself."

Fist blinks, then gives her a leering smile. "Well, he's a bit busy. He wants me to bring you to him. Its just a quick walk. If you'll-"

"Forget it." She cuts him off even as she carefully sets up a tech mine with some subtle movements. "Deals off. Tell the Shadow Broker to try again later."

Fist drops the act, snarling as he reaches for her. "Listen here you bit-"

She intercepts his hand at the wrist, slapping it with her palm.

Normally this wouldn't be much of a hit. But a recently developed Jaeger technology had hit the market about a month before, and was now available in small sizes. Called the joy-buzzer, after the small toy, it allowed a person to discharge an electrical current through an opponent at close range. In Jaegers it was usually powered through their enormous power sources, allowing them to incapacitate enormous opponents before going for the kill, but it was easy enough to shrink to a human size. Or in this case, quarian-size.

The look on Fist's face as the current passes through him is priceless. His body jerks like a ragdoll as his muscles are twisted by the electricity, falling down to the bewilderment of his men. Before they can open fire, Tali pulls her shotgun out and flips over a crate, launching a incineration orb as she goes. The ensuing explosion doesn't kill anyone, but its enough to distract the mercs as she takes a defensive position on the other side of the alleyway. Just like that, Tali is alone against ten men, all of them shooting towards her cover as they prowl towards her down a single hallway. Perfect.

Now, the men are forced to duck around cover, slowing them down and occupying them long enough for her to take them on one by one. It'll be tight, but its more then likely that she can kill them all as long she can keep a cool head.

So when she comes out of cover to aim at the closest merc, it comes as a shock to her when he's suddenly lifted up into the air by a biotic attack. Another one shatters the field, sending the man flying with a scream of agony. She turns around and gasps in shock at the group behind her.

"You?"

"I really hope you mean that in a good way." John says with a smile. Behind him, Kaidan and Tela lower their arms, still glowing with power. "What do you say? Fight now, talk later?"

'Are all humans like this?' She thought to herself, a bit suspicious. 'So willing to fight for others?' Still, it wasn't like she had other options.

John ducked back from another burst of fire, growling as he recognized Fist duck back into cover. "Wrex! Keep the leader from running away again! Next time he books, pull him back!"

"Got it!"

"Tela, keep them dancing! Any merc in cover, you get him exposed as fast as possible!"

"Sure." The blue-skinned woman smiles as her limbs begin to flow with biotic energy. In a flash of light, she flies through crates and bullets, slamming into a turian man. As he staggers back, her assault rifle rips him to shreds. "I love my job."

With nine more enemies to go, John stares after her before a almost childish smile appears. "I want that."

He turns to the rest. "Bau, are you good here?"

"Of course Shepard. I'm not a Spectre for nothing." Just then, a man wearing heavy armor spins out of cover and goes charging towards them, screaming in raw hatred. Sparing him a glance, Jondum hits him with a program. Designed to make an enemies armor work against them, it sends shooting pain through the nerves. The man's screams turn to pain, and he staggers to ground as he howls in agony. Bau smiles at John as he ends the mans suffering with a single shot from his pistol. "I'll be fine."

"...Good enough. Kaidan, you're with me. Miss Zorah, can you fight?"

She nods. "Its part of my training. I can handle myself."

"Good enough for me." John says with a smile. Still, he decides to keep an eye on her. "Move out!"

Fist growls in his throat as he watches John's group advance. He links up to his mercs, his voice harsh as he barks at them. "Kill them all! Kill the Normandy crew!"

"Going to have to try better than that!" Kaidan crows back, a grimace on his face as he biotically slams a man into a crate. The human man looks up long enough to Tali to shot him in the head. She doesn't take the time to feel pride in the clean shot, focusing her attention on another man. She throws a tech mine at him, popping his shields. John follows up with a shockwave, sending the man flying back and into a wall with spine-shattering force. He and the others pull back when a burst of automatic gunfire forces them back.

"Damnit." John curses to himself. He connects to Wrex and Tela over the radio. "Guys, those assault rifles are about to tear us in half! Take those guys down, now!"

"You got it!" Wrex barks as he pulls out of cover and starts charging across the field. His barrier soaks up bullets with ease as he roars like a beast from ancient times, slamming into the cover of three turians using rifles. The dextro aliens jump back, one screaming as he tries to sight on Wrex. He feels a force slam into him with all the force of a speeding car, cutting off his scream and sending him flying. As he dies, his friends take a moment to stare at their enemies.

Wrex, stepping over their cover, his eyes somehow angry and full of glee at the same time, with Tela standing just in front of him, her eyes glowing as she lifts up glowing arms. "This is going to hurt." She coos to them. Wrex chuckles darkly as he steps forward.

Panicked, the turians go to shoot them. Tela moves like lightning, blasting them with a biotic lift. As they float helplessly, Wrex sends a warp, destroying them utterly in the ensuing explosion as the biotic field destabilizes. Wrex ignore their falling bodies to speak into his radio.

"Rifles down Shepard."

That's enough for John. "Move up! Wrex, keep an eye on the leader! Jondum, we need a opening!"

The salarian smiles as he pulls back into cover, lifting up several devices. "Happy to oblige!" With a couple of presses, the devices glow blue. He spins back out and throws them like Frisbee's, watching with interest as they land at the feet of several enemy mercs. Before the men can move, electricity arcs between the round disks, sending thousands of bolts of electricity through them. One man shakes, arms wide out as he screams before falling to the ground. The other are incapacitated long enough to John to get in range, his handy shotgun ready as he shoots one in the chest, sending dozens of pellets tearing through his organs. John turns to another one, but this merc turns out to be a bit more resilient then the others.

The merc fires his shotgun at John, piercing his shields. John falls back as the next shot slams into his armor, sending him back. The merc smirks, raising his gun back. He screams in pain when a hand clasps his shoulder, sending another bolt of lightning into him. A pistol round to his head ends his suffering. Tali pulls her hand away and turns to John, who smiles at her as his shields recharge.

"I guess we're even now, huh?" He pats her on the shoulder as he walks past. "Thank you."

Kaidan shoots a man in the heart, finishing off the last merc. He walks up next to Tali, who watches Shepard leave silently, two bright spots growing just beneath where her eyes would be. Confused, Kaidan gives her a pat on the shoulder, startling her. "You okay?"

"O-Oh, yes! I'm just, thinking, you know?" She chuckles a bit nervously. "Boy, it's hot here, isn't it? We'd better leave."

"Not just yet." John says as Jondum and Tela walk up. After a moment, he turns and grins when he sees Wrex walk up while dragging something. "So where did you find him?"

"Hiding behind some crates." Wrex throws him forward, a look of disgust on his face as Fist moans pitifully on the floor. "He was about to make a break for it before I got to him. Quick little bastard."

"Cowards always are." Tela says with a dismissive snort. "Just kill him and leave him here."

Fist curls his lips, crawling up to his hands and knees. He coughs, then look up to smirk at Tela. "Go ahead. But I've got information. The kind that you don't want to lose. Kill me, and it all goes away."

"Or we torture it out of you." Wrex suggests. His voice is just a touch too happy. "A couple of broken body parts would loosen that tongue of yours."

"Unlikely we could trust whatever information he gave us." Jondum crosses his arms as he looks down at Fist. "So what is it you want?"

"My freedom." Fist spits to the side, almost hitting Tali. She yelps and steps back, glaring at him as he grins at her. "Let me go. I'm just a small time guy. I'll disappear. You won't ever see me again."

"I don't know." John kneels down, looking him in the eye. "How do I know I'm getting what I want out of this deal? Your guys have been dying at my hands all day. In the old days I would have run out have bullets. And now I'm supposed to just trust that you aren't going to come back for a bit of revenge?"

Fist snarls. "That was just business! I don't give a damn about these guys! I don't want anything more to do with you psychos!"

And John believed that. In the end, Fist was damned pathetic. How a man like him got to be in charge was beyond the marine. Still, he needed to give him that little push.

"How about this? A good will gift. Give me a bit information, and I can think about giving you the full release."

Fists stares at Shepard. "What are you talking about?"

"A shipment of organic goods. Smuggled off Earth, brought here, and diverted to another planet. Through your services. Where was it sent?"

Fist looks around at the rest of them. They keep quiet, allowing things to play out as they are, though Kaidan can't help a worried look toward John. Fist looks back at John and nods slowly.

"All right. Fine. I don't know the exact location, but I know the city and the planet. I give you that, and you let me go."

"I promise." John says honestly. Tela and Kaidan shift a bit, but say nothing. Fist searches John's face, then shrugs.

"Nos Astra. On Ilium. To some Asari Matriarch. I don't know what was sent, but Saren and some salarian scientist oversaw the whole thing. Very hush-hush."

"You sent it and you didn't even know what it was?" Kaidan says sceptically. "Doesn't sound like the kind of thing a smart business man would do."

"Well when you have a turian spectre with a hate for humans telling you what's what, you don't ask many questions, do ya!?" Fist rages. He rises completely to his feet, looking at Wrex warily for a moment before turning back to John. "So. You going to let me go?"

John barely hesitates, stepping aside. Jondum pushes Fist forward and away while John speaks. "Get out of here. I'm sure you'll live to regret this."

"Yeah, yeah." Fist grumbles, stumbling off.

Tela sighs as she watches the man go off. "Is it even a good idea to let him go?"

"No, it isn't." Kaidan answers, turning to John. "Why did you do that?"

"Because he might have more information." John turns to Jondum. "We good?"

"Yes." The salarian smiles a bit mischievously as his omni-tool lights up. A small blip can be seen going farther and farther from them. "Sending the transmitters signal to C-Sec now. They'll pick him up for us."

"Good." John smiles as he turns to walk away. "I did promise to let him go. I never said nobody else would get a heads up."

"Is that... right?" Tali says with a bit of conflict in her voice.

"Maybe not." Tela admits as she follows the group. "But its damn funny."

* * *

"So what'd I miss?" Jane says with a smile as she notes the three new members to John's group. Garrus and Ashley stand beside her as they wait in front of the stairs to the human embassy, watching John's team walk up to them. "You seem to be doing okay."

"Two big fights. Lots of bullets flying. Come to think of it, we probably went on the wrong assignments." John replies in amusement.

"Maybe, but you couldn't have hacked the computer." She says with a playful smirk. "So you going to introduce me?"

"Oh, right." John turns to motion to the new members. "This is Tali Zorah vas-"John stops, turning to give her a embarrassed look. "I'm sorry, I never got your ship name.

"_The Rayya. _Um, and its 'nar' actually. I haven't finished my pilgrimage yet." She says sheepishly.

John nods in understanding before continuing. "And these are Tela Vasir and Jondum Bau." He gives Jane a knowing look. "Council Spectres."

This draws Janes interest. The red head makes note of it, then turns back to John. "We better head inside. Udina told me to meet him as soon as you got here."

John nods, walking alongside his sister. When they enter the embassy, a wide office with nice furniture and a great view of the Presidium, Udina is sitting behind a desk, Anderson standing calmly at his side. Nihlus is on the other side of the desk, turning to look as the door opens. He raises an eyebrow at the size of the group that walks in, giving a respectful nod to Tela and Jondum. Udina looks up at John and Jane, smiling at them.

"Ah, we were just discussing you. John, Jane, I would like to introduce you to the turian councilor."

The turian who gets up from the chair in front of Udina's desk is tall, and rather well built for a politician. Like most of his race, he moves with military precision, turning to look at him. Jane's eyes widen at the blue markings on his face.

"Oh no way."

The turian councilor blinks when he sees Garrus rubbing his neck in embarrassment. "Garrus?"

The group turn to look at Garrus in shock." He chuckles a bit, waving weakly at the turian councilor.

"Hey, dad."

* * *

Author's note: I really hope that surprised you guys. It was hinted at a bit earlier, when Ashley was deriding politicians and Garrus tried to defend them so I hope I still managed to get you to jump in your seats. Any ways, all questions will be answered next chapter. What was sent to Ilium? What will the Council do about Saren? And can the Normandy Team take on the next threat to appear?

And now, a quick change. Recently, a awesome artist on deviantart, rs2studios, made a Neptune Overlord! It look pretty sick, and its one of the first official artworks for this story. So please, visit the picture and let him know how much I appreciate. His other Jaegers are pretty sick too, so you won't be missing out.

rs2studios . deviantart art / PacificEffect-Jaeger-Commission-Neptune-Overlord-4 09776419

Just remove the spaces. Thanks folks :D


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